Young Justice Anonymous Meme Fills
by Tsuchi
Summary: A collection of fills I've written for prompts on the Livejournal YJ Anon Meme. Each chapter is it's own story. I'll update as I complete fills. WARNING: Contains a grab-bag of themes, main characters, pairings and story lengths. Most chapters are K .
1. 5 Times Someone Thought Robin Had Issues

Prompt: 5 times someone thought Robin had _Issues_

. com/yj_anon_?thread=1245361#t1245361

Five Times Someone Thought Robin Had _Issues_

1: Identity

It's not just the name, Wally muses, watching Robin while Batman briefs them. It's the whole deal; everything Wally knows about Robin that no one else (okay, except Robin... and Batman... and Alfred) knows about him. It's about him being Richard Grayson, adopted son of (Batman) Bruce Wayne.

It's about them not being able to just hang and talk about girls and movies and school stuff anymore – because Wally goes to school in a different city, so they hang out in Mount Justice... where Miss Martian and Superboy live... where Batman has used up a crate of bugs under the guise of 'internal security'.

And where Speedy isn't, which means he isn't keeping Kaldur busy. Behavioural scientifically speaking, two is the most stable number; three, the least; four falls somewhere between, since it can easily split into two twos. Case in point: the strange little twosomes their foursome split into as soon as their mentors were busy. Behavioural science didn't give the odds on five, but Wally's hopeful that even if they do split, he can get himself into a twosome with M'gann.

Robin will probably be the onesome left over, Wally thinks, if that split ever comes. Kaldur's adopted Superboy as some sort of Speedy emotional replacement, which Wally is just fine with.

He half suspects that Robin's _gunning_ for the onesome, given the way he shuts M'gann down every time she hints that she might like to know more about him. That's usually where Wally breaks in, covers his teammate's back, and offers up more information about himself than M'gann could ever possibly need to know.

It sucks that he and Robin can't talk anymore because one little slip could give it all away (like that he has a tutor instead of going to school, like that he watches movies on a big screen in his basement instead at the theatre, like that he bought his girlfriend-of-the-moment a diamond bracelet for Valentines instead of the bunch of mixed flowers Wally bought for his), but he'll deal. Robin's pathological need for secrecy won't split them down the middle.

2: Circuses

Six inches from Robin's face, M'gann can't help but feel the discomfort coming off Robin in waves. She doesn't understand, but she doesn't want to pry; to invade his privacy and alienate him more than she already has.

She almost wants to back off, because whatever reason he has, it's no doubt a good one. But, "It's a circus," Wally says. "And Superboy's never been to one!"

"Neither have I," she adds. "There are festivals on Mars, but I'm curious to see to what the differences between there and here are. Please Robin?"

He stares at her mulishly, face pale against his shades. She wonders if it has something to do with the notoriously bad illumination at circuses. After all, sunglasses dim the eye's perception of the light the sun produces. Perhaps Robin does not care for the hindrance to his senses.

He clenches his jaw. "You can go, if you want. I'll stay here." Images flash through her brain so quickly she barely realizes that they've broken through her shields. _Blood splashed along the walls of the Big Top, two bodies falling, a smoking gun, a broken down Ferris Wheel, a pasty face framed with unwashed green hair and both corners of his lips split into a macabre grin emphasized with red paint, a sinister leer asking "Why... so... serious?", a knife with a wicked edge inches from her face._

With everything she has, she clamps down on her reaction, praying she gives no hint of what she's seen.

"Okay," she answers. "We'll see you later tonight then?" Robin's eyes narrow at her, but he nods tightly.

3: Authority

Robin's gone again. Aqualad frowns to himself, and thinks _Robin, what do you think you're doing?_

_Heading off the pursuit. If I can get into the system, I can get them headed in the wrong direction. _

_That wasn't the plan, Robin!_ Privately, inside a mental lock-box M'gann helped him set up to manage the psychic link he ends up ordering on nearly every mission now, he wonders if Robin has a problem with authority. Or maybe not. Batman wouldn't have kept him on if he couldn't follow orders.

Robin is heading off the pursuit and isn't there when an explosion and falling debris cut them off from the escape path they'd planned out. Aqualad bites back a curse when the detour forces them into the path Robin sent Cobra's minions down.

He arrives in time to give them a victory, but not in time to keep Wally from getting a fractured rib when one of the minions smashes him to the wall with a lucky strike; not in time to keep M'gann from getting shot with a laser; not in time to help with the six or seven who pin Superboy to the ground.

Kaldur expresses his displeasure with pursed lips, and Robin thinks, _Sorry guys. Seemed like a good idea at the time_.

Batman tells Kaldur, "If it were a matter of finding the right keyword or attitude, I'd tell you to figure it out on your own. You were right when you noticed that Robin's used to working with me; he's not used to having to communicate. But Gotham's a big city. He's used to working alone as well. I haven't given him orders since he was ten."

Kaldur's eyebrows shoot up, because he's heard Batman give Robin orders lots of times.

Batman's lips – the only visible section of his face – _almost _twist into a smile. "Try giving him orders he's going to follow anyway. It'll get him used to listening to you when you have to give one for real."

4: Replacements

Superboy doesn't understand. Batman is just about the ideal mentor – everything Superboy wishes he could have in Superman – but Robin's voice when speaking to him is scathing and angrier than Superboy's ever heard.

"_Batman, I don't get it. Why now?_"

"_Robin... I'm not Superman. I'm not The Flash."_

"_Duh."_

"_I can't cover all of Gotham alone. I need another set of hands and yours are occupied. Tim's a good kid. You could really help him out if you wanted to."_

"_That's my point! Tim _is_ a kid! He's gonna get killed out there!" _

Sometimes, Superboy thinks that super-hearing is a curse – particularly whenever Artemis and Kid Flash start 'laying into one another'. Superboy frowns. That phrase is disturbingly similar to one that Kid Flash uttered a few days ago, about 'needing to get laid'. On reflection, he wondered if they were related and what that would mean for the team dynamics.

His frown turns into a scowl. Robin had not been nearly so temperamental or hostile when Artemis had been introduced to them. Superboy suspects that Robin may be jealous of the boy's status as Batman's new protégé, his new Robin. That sentiment, Superboy can understand.

"_Oh yeah? What about Jason?"_

Superboy cocks his head to the left, an unconscious gesture as he focuses to hear Batman's reply. If he makes a reply, Superboy doesn't hear it. Robin says, _"Hey... I'm... I'm sorry. That was out of line."_

"_Yes,"_ Batman says, finally. _"It was. What happened to Jason..."_

"_Wasn't anybody's fault, I _know_ that. I just... Tim's just a kid."_

"_I know. That's why I'm assigning you to supervise and assess his training over the next six months. At that point, if he's ready, you and I will both see how he performs on the street."_

5: The Dark

Dick's never been afraid of the dark. As a tiny boy, watching his mother and father thrown into sharp relief by the spotlight even as they threw themselves off platforms for the delighted crowds, he sat in darkness. It never contained the monsters other children described.

Not like the monsters that dance across his vision now. Objectively, he knows that it's the gas - Scarecrow's gas that got hooked up to the ventilation system in the middle of the night. Terrible nightmares followed by a more terrible morning.

They are all – all six of them – trained to show no fear, to resist fleeing and making it someone else's problem. They _are_ the someone else. Superboy is destroying the walls, the floor; everything he can touch. In Robin's eyes he morphs into monsters like Robin's never seen. M'gann phases rapidly between tangible and intangible, sending furniture flying into nothing at random intervals.

Robin doesn't know where Wally, Artemis and Kaldur are... he doesn't want to know. He's never felt the urge so strongly; to fight against the mobsters who flicker in and out of his peripheral vision; to turn, and face them; to kill and make them go away forever.

He's faced this gas before, though, and he knows what to do. Slithering into the ventilation ducts, his shaking fingers pull up the schematics on his wrist interface. The light nearly blinds him. Joker's grinning face leers at him behind the screen. He shuts his eyes and banishes the apparition. He is _not_ hearing Harlequin's laughter right now, it's just his imagination. He crawls and wiggles his way to the gas canister and turns it off.

Then he shuts off his interface, and does his best to wait it out. It's pitch dark, aside from the sunspots on the insides of his eyelids. And he is safe. Batman will come. He always does. Batman lives in the dark, and Dick has never been afraid of the dark. If that makes him a little weird, well... you have to be to save the world.


	2. Child Soldiers of the 21st Century

Prompt: _"And we'll fight for you like we were your soldiers."_

. com/yj_anon_?thread=3092343#t3092343

Child Soldiers of the Twenty-First Century

Kid Flash

"Why, Wally?" Barry asks from the side of Wally's hospital bed. Wally has a split lip and numerous cuts and bruises and still has no idea if he's connected to the Speed Force or if all of this was just a (painful) waste of time.

Barry's jaw is tense with anger but his eyes are wide with hopeless worry. Wally doesn't really have an answer – _"I wanted to be like you" "I want to be part of _that_ part of your life" "I couldn't stand the thought of anything happening to you" "I wanted to feel that look on your face when you speed run to my house" "In kindergarten I used to say that I wanted to be my Uncle Barry when I grew up" "Do you have any idea how important you are to me?" "I want to feel that joy" –_because they're all the same and they're all different and none of them say what he needs to. Those are little kid answers, like dressing up as his Uncle – Barry Allen, not the Flash – for Halloween; like joining the track team and knowing it'll never be fast enough for him; like sitting at his uncle's hospital room bedside for four days and refusing to leave until the Flash told him to because he was scared.

"Why?" Barry asks again.

"Because even the Flash can't be in two places at once, and there are a lot of bad people out there," he answers, finally. It's okay. It doesn't say everything he needs to, but it's an adult answer and Wally needs Barry to look at him like an adult.

M'gann

_You want to go to Earth?_ J'onn asks, his long thin digits pausing in their dissection of an Earth computer. He turns an expressionless look to M'gann, where she stands hesitantly at the door.

She doesn't need to answer, instead sending him all her trepidation and hope and want. She gets back a confused muddle of fear – for her – and amusement and nervousness and _are you really sure?_

_Earth isn't like Mars,_ he cautions, and along with his warning come images of trees stark against a steel gray-cerulean blue-red and pink and gold sunset-dawn sky; brick and steel buildings and children playing in the park and arguments over miscommunications and lies and love and movies and murder and militant coups and earthquakes and avalanches and flowers blooming in the spring.

_I know, _she answers, because she can't quite convey that she isn't making a difference here – she's just one out of thirteen sisters – but on Earth. On Earth she might be able to.

Artemis

Green Arrow's hood casts most of his face in shadow. Artemis feels very, very exposed though she hides it with attitude and sarcasm. She's always been good with sarcasm.

"So you ready to listen _now_?" she asks, with a home-made arrow – because like hell she's bringing anything her father cooked up with her - nocked and aimed at Green Arrow's throat.

He narrows his eyes are her. "If you think I don't know who you are, you're kidding yourself," he accuses.

"Sins of the father," she shoots back. "I'm not a spy. I just want a chance."

"And you're going to make me give you one by threatening me?" he asks, and his voice is just amused now. She's still deadly serious.

"If I have to. You've ignored me the last three times I've tried getting through to you." She can see him tallying up the instances and coming up one short. His brow furrows and she mocks, "If you think I don't know who _you _are, you're kidding yourself."

He makes the connection – the mysterious mid-afternoon call – and laughs. "That was you? I thought you were a reporter!"

His laughter dies down to a chuckle, and he grins at her, "Alright, kid, you've got your chance. We can say you're my niece, I guess. One question, though. Why?"

She freezes for an instant, half a dozen reasons running through her head. "Black leather doesn't suit me," she answers.

Kaldur

"Thank you, my King," Garth answers, one hand over his chest, "but I must decline."

Kaldur stares for a moment, wondering at the change in plan – going to the surface has always been their plan, his and Garth's and Tula's just as soon as they graduate. Sure, it's a little early, but this, to serve as King Orin's protégé, is so much better than a simple vacation!

"I see," Aquaman responds, and lays a hand on Garth's shoulder, much as he had placed the same hand on Kaldur's. "I will be sorry not to have you by my side, Garth, but I'm sure Queen Mera will appreciate the loyalty to her teaching."

Garth's mouth opens as if to say something, then closes as he thinks better of it. "Of course, Your Majesty" he says instead, a moment later. Orin favors him with a smile, and then turns back to Kaldur.

"Come, Kaldur'ahm," he says. "There is much to do before you can serve me in the land above, and no telling when we will be needed."

The 'we' makes Kaldur's chest swell with pride, even as Garth's 'no' sends Kaldur's mind spinning. It will be the first time Kaldur and Garth have been separated for more than a night. They had planned to go together. It feels so wrong to be going alone.

But he's already agreed.

Robin

Dick is a flash of green so dark it's nearly black in the corner of Batman's eye. Batman snarls, because he specifically remembers telling Dick to _stay in his room_ _and do his homework_!

This is the problem with having adopted the child whose parents' murder _Batman_ investigated. Dick knows he's Batman, but isn't even _trying_ to cover up who he is. He's dressed in his Flying Grayson's leotard, skipping and rolling in and around the Riddler's men. Riddler's men, unused to opponents of Dick's height, trip and flail as their legs get knocked out from under them. An elbow to the back of the knee is just as effective as a fist to the jaw.

Batman can't deal with it right now. Batman's busy knocking out and tying up Riddler's men, and then he's busy with Riddler, who whispers to him _"You don't understand... I __really__ didn't want to leave you any clues. I couldn't help myself. I... I might actually be crazy."_

When it's over, Dick retreats to the shadows while Batman deals with the police and the ambulances. For that, Batman takes a day or two off the thirty year grounding Dick's going to get when Batman has the chance. Then they're gone and it's three in the morning and Batman rounds on Dick. "What did you think you were doing following me out here?"

Dick – face hidden behind a black sash with eye holes – looks up at him mulishly. "I'll do whatever you want me to, except staying at home."

"You're a child," Batman counters.

"No, I'm not," Dick insists, and grimaces at the taste of blood in his mouth.

"This isn't what I wanted for you," Bruce says, bending down to inspect his ward for damage.

"It's not what Zucco wanted either," Dick answers. Batman doubts that. He doubts that Anthony Zucco gave the youngest Flying Grayson a thought at all.

"We'll talk about it at home," he stalls, fully intending to pump Alfred for the best dissuasion methods. Then he realizes that Alfred's best dissuasion methods couldn't keep Bruce from becoming Batman, and loses what little hope he has.

Superboy

"Just train me," Superboy bites out. He won't look at Superman's awkward expression and frequent glances at his watch. "That's all I need. You don't have to do anything else, I just... _please_."

"I-" Superman says, but for once doesn't fly off because he _can't_. They're inside, for one, and Superboy's got him backed into a corner, for the other. "I'm not so sure... I-"

Superboy spears him with a glare. "I know Cadmus made me. I know you never asked for me to be made. I _know _that. But" – and it's a dirty, villain-worthy trick he's going to pull, but he doesn't have a choice – "if I don't get trained, I might... I might hurt someone. And you're the only one who can train me."

Superman says nothing, but his eyes narrow, and Superboy wonders if his hero has seen through Superboy's transparency to the heart of his ploy... his plea.

Superboy does his best to hide what he really feels for the next part, because Superman won't is he doesn't: "Treat me like I'm anyone, if you want. I don't care. I'll be... I'll just be your soldier if it makes you feel better."

Superman apparently takes his logic at face value, and Superboy tries not to show how much being such a liar kills him inside.

_I don't care,_ he whispers to himself, once, after weekly training. It's (almost, not really) the truth.

(font size=1 wow, these ones turned out sad somehow. I wasn't really planning on that... oops! Also, I drew source material from these:

Artemis' answer: .com/albums/oo331/take_my_pics_and_ill_?t=1277419297

Dick's 'Robin' outfit: http:/www./comics/longbox7/pics/dead_

Riddler's quote: .org/wiki/Riddler /font)


	3. CLARK JUST HUG HIM

Prompt: CLARK JUST HUG HIM

. com/yj_anon_?thread=888241#t888241

Just Hug Him, Clark!

Luthor's smirk dances on the inside of Superman's eyelids and his words ring in Superman's ears – _"It's too late, _Clark_, by now, my... associate... is already in Smallville. If you hurry, you might get there in time."_

Superman flies. It's a long way to Smallville but he's taking every shortcut he can – flying barely a foot above the tops of the trees to minimize the distance, flying more east than south to make use of the Earth's rotation.

He half fears that he'll arrive to find an empty house. He half fears that the house won't be empty, but will be empty of life. He's taking too long.

He bursts through the front door of his parents' house to find Superboy and Robin sitting at the kitchen table he and his dad assembled out of an IKEA box, eating pie off his mother's fine china. Superboy stares at him for a moment while Martha Kent turns from the counter to see who's just arrived. "Kobra was working with Luthor," Superboy says, eyes wide.

Superman freezes. He has no idea what to say. "I... Yes. Luthor, hinted that he wasn't working alone. I..." he trails off. 'Thank you' doesn't quite seem enough to cover _saving his parent's lives_, but he can't think of anything else to say.

"Oh for goodness' sake, Clark, just _hug him_," his mother says, and Clark – never all that good at ignoring what his mother tells him, and even less able to disobey when she speaks in _that _tone of voice – does.

Superboy tenses for a moment, and then relaxes in his arms.


	4. Seven Steps to Team Bonding

Prompt: The team's in the middle of a covert mission/or in a very public place when they learn that Cadmus and/or The Light left a few Easter eggs in Superboy's head.

. com/yj_anon_?view=1943415#t1943415

Seven Steps (to Team Bonding)

7. A human's mental landscape is – as M'gann has found – confusing. It is a rush of sound, thoughts pulsing in time with a heartbeat; an avalanche of images, sights and dreams and memories; an ocean of feelings she needs to stay above or else drown in fear and joy and love and rage. Even without consciously trying – even consciously trying to stay _out_ – she still sometimes gets lost in what the others feel.

A kryptonian's mental landscape is much the same, so far as she can tell. Superboy has always been so protective of his privacy that she's always worked extra hard to keep out of his head. Now she doesn't have a choice. With an apologetic whisper impossible to hear against the hurricane of thoughts –_it'snotsobad icanhandlethis it'sm'gannicantrusther won'thurtthemagain –_she dives in and forces herself to orient before she can get lost in the cascades of shame and guilt.

_It'll be okay, _she tries to tell him,tries to _show_ him with her memories of the messages the others sent through her. _It wasn't your fault. _It doesn't help the guilt, and the shame gets worse.

She'll keep trying. And when she and Superboy get back, the others will help out too, and they'll be fine. They'll all be just _fine_.

6. Superboy doesn't look up as the door opens. If it's Superman, he doesn't want to know.

"Do you know what conditioned responses are?"

It's not, and somehow that hurts worse. He wants to know if the others are okay, but he can't ask, doesn't have the right.

"The others are fine," Batman says. Superboy doesn't need words to express his disbelief. "Most of them are fine," Batman amends. "Robin needs a few weeks to heal and M'gann's still unconscious. They'll be fine.

I'm here to tell you what the League decided. J'onn is going to be examining you for more... surprises." The words are... almost kind and they grate on Superboy's ears.

"I don't want anyone in my head," he says, finally, the first words he's spoken in hours/days/weeks. It's timeless in here. "But... I guess I deserve it."

Batman kneels to stare Superboy in the face. One hand grips Superboy's shoulder, cool leather against his skin where his t-shirt is torn. "This isn't a punishment, Superboy. It just needs to be done. Would you prefer M'gann?"

Superboy stays silent for a moment. "Yes," he whispers. Batman nods.

"No promises, but I'll see what I can do. Whoever it is, I'll have them look into unlocking your powers while they're at it."

He leaves and Superboy is alone again.

5. Superboy's fists clench where they rest on his knees. A Watchtower holding cell isn't the best place for a meeting, but Black Canary argued that the boy deserved not to have decisions be made over his head. Even if they _are _being made – quite literally – over his head. Not surprisingly, Red Tornado seconded her opinion. Not surprisingly, Superman raised objections – 'The Light already knows too much about our operations, and you want to give them more?' Not surprisingly, a lot of League members agree with him. Superboy waits impatiently in the cell.

It wasn't- he didn't _mean_ to! He's not a spy. He's not dan- He's not a spy. He won't give The Light anything... knowingly. What happened was... he doesn't know. Superboy is... _Out of control_, Superman said to Batman as the cell door swung closed. _Dangerous_.

Superboy wishes he could say he remembers, but it's all a blur. He doesn't even know what he's done.

4. The movie theatre is a pile of rubble and electronics. The firefighters and police have long since cleared out, but Kaldur is still here, using magic that he hasn't needed in a long time to shift rocks three times his weight. Artemis works beside him. She has no magic, and she's not a meta, but she works with the townsfolk, looking for survivors.

Kaldur's left arm is broken. Artemis' nose and jaw are shattered and bloody. Neither of them bothered with the ambulances. They'll get help when the work's done.

Red Arrow shows up some hours later. Kaldur nods a greeting and thanks, but can't spare the breath to put it in words. Roy nods back.

When the work is done, Red Arrow sits with them on the sidewalk, strapping Kaldur's arm into a sling. "The others?" he asks.

"Wally broke his ankle," Kaldur tells him. "M'gann got knocked out. They're back at Mount Justice. Robin... might be out of surgery by now."

Red Arrow's eyes cut to where Artemis is pressing an icepack to the lower half of her face, silently asking how she came out relatively unscathed. With a broken jaw, she has no answer for him.

3. Robin's ribs crack under the pressure of Superboy's hands and the boy screams.

"Superboy! Stop!" Kaldur shouts, even though Superboy's eyes are blank, his expression lax. He throws Robin's body into the wall almost casually, before turning on Kid Flash – useless since Superboy dropped him from the roof. Wally's struggling to get up and stay up, his ankle unable to support his weight.

Twin beams of red burn gashes through the support beams above his head, and Artemis pales as she watches them fall. They freeze inches from crushing Kid Flash, and Superboy turns to fend of Kaldur's single water whip. It crashes uselessly against Superman's arm, and then wraps tight around the flesh.

Superboy arches and screams as lightning courses through his body.

Artemis' bow is back at the base and she's the worst martial artist they have, but she throws herself at Superboy like it's the end of the world.

Kaldur's electricity is gone too quickly, and Superboy's fist cracks into her face, knocking her off her feet. She hits the ground twenty feet away.

_Superman!_ She hears M'gann call through the link_. Help! Please!_ And then Superboy is on her, and Artemis forces herself to her feet again – and again, and again – waiting for help to arrive.

2. "... so where does the Scorpion King come in?"

"Later. I'm getting to that. ... thanks, man," Wally hands the concession stand cashier forty dollars, and starts handing food to Superboy – two extra large drinks, four extra large bags of popcorn. "So, the kid helps them into the city..." he begins, jerking his head towards the huge '2' sign. Superboy follows, not really paying attention because he's going to be watching the movie in a few minutes, and he's scanning the crowds for the others anyway.

The last thing he hears is "the viper – I think it's a viper, I could be wrong – the viper strikes –" and adrenaline surges through his body and his hands reach out and grab Wally. And then he's flying.

Kid Flash screams when Superboy lets him go.

1. _Aqualad? When this is over can we go to the movies?_

_Need I remind you, that when this is over, we need to debrief?_

_But it's a Saturday! Nobody's got school tomorrow! _

_So?_

_So I can see the sign for the Miranda Cinema from here, and there's a midnight showing of _The Scorpion King_! It's a classic! The Rock's first movie – Superboy's _gotta _see it! His education won't be complete until he does!_

_Yeah, Aqualad. You wouldn't want to stand in the way of Superboy's normal-ification, would you? _

Superboy frowns because he can _hear _Robin's smirk.

_Guys,_ M'gann interrupts. _Kobra's here. Headed your way, Robin. _

_Right. Surveil now, movie later, _Robin says, like it's already decided.

_Surveil_? Artemis asks doubtfully.

_Yeah. People who are on surveillance, like us, _'_surveil'. I just thought of it two minutes ago. I've got a visual on Kobra. He's got the crates alright._

_Tomorrow, _Kaldur says suddenly. _If there's no mission, we'll all go tomorrow. _He suppresses a smile. _We can call it team bonding._


	5. Twenty Years Late

Prompt: Batman and Superman are thrust into an Future Timeline/Alternate Reality/Whatever.

. com/yj_anon_?thread=1454967#t1454967

Twenty Years Late

1. It's twenty years before Robin and Superboy ever meet Batman and Superman again.

It's the long, slow week between Christmas and New Year's. The early morning of December 27th to be exact. Superman beams into the control room of the tower, in civvies for what seems like the first time since November.

"You still here?" he asks, unnecessarily, because obviously, Batman is.

"Yeah," Batman answers, just as unnecessarily.

"Arsenal and Impulse were looking for you earlier."

"'kay," Batman says, watching the stars spin lazily. A hand clamps on his shoulder.

"You alright?" The question is too casual and betrays Superman's concern. Dick knows he's not acting like himself.

"I'm fine. Joker slipped his handlers again. He dumped three tons of fluoxetine into the water system. I'm still shaking off the side effects."

"I thought Joker died last year."

"Nope. He faked it, and his lawyers managed to wrangle house arrest out of the DA. His age and increasing ineffectiveness are grounds for compassionate leave, apparently." Dick laughs suddenly. "You know, he's like, _sixty_, and he just won't give it up. I asked him once why he kept going. He said he's waiting for Batman to come back! Apparently I'm no fun."

_Incoming, _the computer chimes, _Batman zero-two; Superman zero-one._

Batman jerks out of his seat, readying a stun grenade. Superman shifts into a fighting stance.

Two figures shimmer into existence in front of the zeta beam. The second they're corporeal, Superman's already there, grabbing the broader of the two by the throat and slamming him against the wall. He hears the _tink, tink, tink _of the stun grenade against the floor and tenses – squeezing his eyes shut – in preparation for the blast that would have blinded and deafened him otherwise.

The slimmer intruder has no such warning and stumbles. Batman is already there, sweeping the man's feet out from under him and pressing a batarang to the side of his neck.

Superman opens his eyes as soon as the afterimage fades. He stares himself in the face and chokes. "Superman?" he whispers and his hands compulsively lets go. He backs up half a step. In his peripheral vision, Batman rips the cowl off of the slimmer.

Batman's breath leaves him in a rush and he sucks in another just as quickly. Bruce Wayne's face glares up at him, eyes still tearing and blinking furiously as they try to focus beyond the after-images of the flashbang. "It _is _you," Batman says, sounding like he's thirteen again, and wraps his arms around Bruce Wayne.

2. There are DNA tests to confirm it, just in case, because the White Martians have been giving the Justice League trouble and there _are_ ways to fake these things; but no one's (yet) grown bold enough to try to send a fake Batman or a fake Superman into the Watch Tower. At least, no one's managed to do it successfully.

Batman and Superman answer every test question Batman poses them correctly and Batman even looks a little proud at how paranoid his protégé has turned out.

"Superman?" Batman starts.

"Yes?" Two voices answer and two identical faces look back at Batman. He sighs and frowns.

"Okay, that's gonna get old fast. _You,_" he points at the Superman on the left, "are Superman. And _you,_" he points at the other "will henceforth be referred to as Clark, because Superman's been working here for twenty years after you disappeared and he doesn't have another name to fall back on."

Superman gives Batman a tiny smile – not much more than a twitch to the corner of his lips – and points at the other Batman. "And _you_ will be Bruce, because I am not bothering with trying to remember to call him Dick."

"Fair enough," Bruce murmurs with an amused smile wider than Superman has ever managed.

3. "What happened?" seems the logical question to ask, but it takes hours and hours to get to it. There's precious little to say – Batman and Superman hem and haw over every little detail about the last twenty years that they reveal. Kid Flash is now Impulse. Artemis remained herself, until Ollie died, and then took up the Green Arrow name. Kaldur formed the Swords of Atlantis with Garth and Tula. M'gann started going by Starfire.

There's a lot they don't say.

_Batman and Superman leave to investigate the theft of some Kryptonian technology from the Fortress of Solitude._

_The same night, the Bat-signal illuminates the bottoms of the clouds and Joker's YouTube declaration that he's going to destroy the Gotham City World Peace Monument at midnight plays on every news station and computer in Gotham. It's a trap, and they know it, but Young Justice goes out to stop him anyway. They get themselves kidnapped. _

"_Bats'll show," the Joker says, watching the sky through the windows. He's not laughing for once, and Robin gets the sense that a lot of Joker's sense of self in tied up in Batman. _

_The Joker spends his time carving little shallow bat shapes into Robin's skin to watch him and the other Young Justice members squirm. As the hours pass, and Batman doesn't show, the knife begins to dig deeper and deeper. Robin lets out a whimper somewhere in the third hour and once he's started he can't stop._

"_You hear that, Bats?" Joker mutters to himself, once. "You hear that? You have to come now. I've got your little bird."_

_Aside from Robin's whimpering, the warehouse is very nearly silent. Even Wally can't talk at someone who utterly ignores him for that long. _

_Batman still doesn't come. The bomb sits three feet from Robin's left, but Joker hasn't set it off yet, because he's waiting for Batman. _

_Eventually, as dawn slowly makes more of the room visible, after five hours as Joker's hostages, Red Tornado, Black Canary and Red Arrow rescue them. Joker's carted off to Arkham (again), and they find out that_ no one_ knows where Batman and Superman are._

_Lex Luthor announces that Batman and Superman are dead. The entire Justice League – every single active member, even the part timers, even the staff – comes down on him. Then they search, but there's no sign of either missing hero. There's only the technology Luthor stole, and by the time he's turned into Metropolis PD custody, he's in no condition to tell what happened to Batman or Superman. _

_Gotham goes insane. Without Batman's ever vigilant presence, and only Robin remaining, it seems like everybody and their gun-toting grandmas want just that little bit more than they deserve. _

_The radio – every station in the world, even the all-news stations – plays 'Superman's Dead' at least once an hour for three days "while the world mourns". _

_Superboy smashes the radios in Mount Justice after the second time he hears it. They don't get replaced. Twenty-four hours later, Lex Luthor flat-lines. _

_Within a week, Young Justice is short two members. Dick leaves Mount Justice for Wayne Manor, Superboy for the Watch Tower._

_Superboy waits another week before he takes up the cape. This is what he was born to do. Literally._

_He visits Martha Kent precisely once. He explains who he is and how he came to be and why she's never heard of him before in about 5 minutes and then spends another twenty five listening to her weep into his shoulder. It's the most awkward experience of his life. He never goes back. _

_People notice that Superman is much younger than they're used to, less amiable and more destructive, but he holds to the same morals and gets the job done. _

_The only person in Metropolis to notice that Clark Kent went missing is Lois Lane, but she doesn't have time to think about it, because Superman went missing at about the same time, and then he was reported dead, and he wasn't the same when he came back. _

_Dick waits three years before he takes up the cowl, not only because he's waiting for Bruce to come home, but because a thirteen-year-old Batman is just ridiculous. He makes the rounds as Robin, meets and joins forces with a girl who calls herself Spoiler, and gratefully accepts Red Arrow's help whenever he can get it. Gotham is a big city. _

_Robin finds he has to hit harder, work longer, be that little bit more ruthless before they start to respect that he means _business. _Even then, Gotham doesn't really get it until the first night the Bat-signal shines in the sky and Batman appears. _

_Dick Grayson takes a leave of absence in the wake of his father's disappearance. He drops out after his father is declared missing, presumed dead. He never graduates from Gotham Academy. The media calls it a tragedy. _

_J'onn takes over assigning missions. He's not as good at it as Batman was – there are a few more casualties during missions than before. After a year, the League can no longer afford to give what remains of Young Justice special treatment. _

_Roy starts spending more and more time in Gotham, until Alfred suggests that with the number of nights per week Roy spends at Wayne Manor approaching seven, he should just move in. _

_He doesn't, until Alfred catches the flu. He doesn't, until Alfred dies and Batman falls apart._

Finally, Batman and Superman have said everything they're going to say.

"So where were you?" Superman asks, a defiant tilt to his chin. He asks Bruce, not looking at Clark in the slightest. He's not a kid anymore. He's _not_ dependent on Superman's approval. He _is _Superman.

"Lex Luthor stole Kryptonian technology out of the Fortress of Solitude," Bruce begins. "It was a time-travel device. We think he was planning on using it to travel back to when Superman- sorry, Clark – first arrived on Earth, in order to," his expression shifts to something like an aborted grin, "adopt Clark."

Batman snickers. "Somehow, 'Clark Luthor' just doesn't sound the same."

"In any case, the device didn't work," Clark responds with a frown. He crosses his arms over the red S. "The device was still in the development phase when Black Zero released the Destroyer. It was never completed, and it looks like Luthor tried to finish it using Earth technology."

"So, to send you back, all we need to do is get the device, figure out what went wrong, and fix it?" Batman muses. "Piece of cake. The device is back in the Fortress of Solitude. Superman, you mind?"

"Yes," Superman said, but heads over to the zeta beam anyway. He pauses as he reaches it. "One of you will have to show me which one the device is," he says without turning around.

"I'll go," Clark volunteers. Superman gives him a piercing look, but nods. The zeta beam (_Intertower transport; Superman one-six, Superman zero-one_) takes them to the hangar. Superman opens a locker to pull out a blue and red bundle that he carries to where he pauses underneath a sleek red, blue and gold aircraft.

"Open up," he says, and the same automated voice from the zeta beam answers, _Voice pattern recognized, Superman one-six._ An access hatch slides open. Without waiting, or even looking back, Superman jumps up and in.

Clark pauses momentarily before following, before he remembers. _Superboy can't fly._ He wonders if Wayne Tech Industries paid for the plane. He wonders if both he and Superboy might be more comfortable with each other on opposite sides of the hull. He squares his shoulders and leaps into the plane.

Superman is dressed in his superman outfit. It's not the same as Clark's. There's Wayne Tech Ind. technology along the arms, fitted seamlessly into the fabric.

He powers up the aircraft with sure, practiced movements, and takes off.

4. Batman and Bruce start in on the device pretty much the second the two Supermans return. The trip down to the Fortress and back was punctuated by silence and Clark's awkward attempts at conversation, and both are secretly glad it's over.

Deciding he must be a bit of a masochist, Superman says, "There's someone you should see," to Clark.

"Who?" the other asks.

"Just follow me."

And Superman walks away.

5. Superman waits outside.

Martha Kent's eyes widen as they take in Clark Kent, standing in the doorway – in the middle of the night – of her room in the Smallville Retirement Residence. She nearly a hundred now, the oldest resident and the oldest woman in Smallville. "Superboy?" she asks. "Is that you?"

She squints at Clark, and smiles. "It _is _you. Goodness you've grown. Just like Clark at that age, before he-" She tears up and her voice chokes a little. "Not that that's much of a surprise, I suppose."

"Ma," Clark says, looking at his mother, tiny and frail. Her hair is pure white and lies against her shoulder tied in a simple braid. "It's me, Clark."

She frowns. "What are you talking about, Superboy – oh excuse _me_, it's Super_man_ now. What are you playing at?"

"I'm not playing at anything, ma. I'm- I'm back."

She gets up out of bed, and strides – as quickly as she can – up to him. He meets her halfway. Her finger jabs imperceptibly against his chest. "Don't you play with me, Superman. Don't you play with an old woman's heart!" Tears spill down her cheeks. "My baby's gone, you said so yourself, so don't you play games with me!" Her index jabs again and Clark catches it gently in one hand.

He doesn't know what to say, how to make this better. How to prove he is who he is, and no one else.

"Mrs. Kent," his own voice says from the door. The Kents turn to see Superman standing there. "I'm not playing games, Mrs. Kent. He's back. ...I thought you should know."

She eyes return to her son, and she rests a hand – weightless as a butterfly's wing – against the side of his face. "Clark?" Her voice is soft and full of wonder and affection.

"Yes, Ma?" he answers, and she throws her arms around him, crying 'my baby! My baby, you're home!'

When Clark leaves his mother to get her rest, Superman is waiting outside again.

"Thank you," Clark says.

Superman doesn't answer, but some of the tension in his jaw eases.

6. "There's someone you should go see," Batman says, sharing a plate of cookies Starfire baked and left the last time she was in the Tower. The work is done. The patch will either send Bruce and Clark back twenty years or it won't. Batman wonders if they'll all stop existing if it works.

In case it doesn't, he wants to get rid of a particular annoyance.

"Who?" Bruce asks.

"You'll see. Just put on the cowl first."

7. Batman waits on the roof of the halfway house.

Bruce walks into the darkened room, waiting for his eyes to adjust. "Bats?" he hears, and a hysterical giggle. Light flares in the darkness. Bruce sucks in a breath. His eyes are still sensitive from the flashbang, but he can see.

An old man holds a green flare in one hand and a party horn in the other. Scars stretch from the corners of his lips nearly all the way to his cheekbones. His eyes are sunken and most of his hair has fallen out. A smile splits his face in half, revealing yellowed dentures.

"Bats!" the Joker cries, leaping to his feet and tossing the flare and the horn to opposite corners of the room. "Bats! You're home!"

Bruce nearly doesn't think about getting out of the way of the Joker's leap, and by the time he does it's too late. But it's fine. Joker just... hugs him. Tightly. His face presses against the Bat symbol on Bruce's chest, and rubs back and forth. "You're home! You're home!" Joker says, again and again, like his mouth is stuck on repeat.

Bruce pushes the Joker gently away, still not sure what to say. The only information Dick had been willing to give was, 'It's someone who really needs to see you. He's waited twenty years, Bruce. Also, it'll be a load off my mind, if you do this'.

"You haven't changed a bit," the Joker marvels. "Just the same, you're just the same! Oh!" He darts away, pulling open dresser drawers and tossing clothes out of the closet. "I've got something for you, a gift. I've been waiting for you to come back see? Couldn't stop until I gave it to you," he mutters, and turns back to Bruce without letting the Batman see what's in his hand.

His smile is so wide and so eager that Bruce waits while the Joker approaches. The Joker affects being put out. "You're twenty years late, Batman," he chides. "But you're here now!" he smiles, splitting his face in half.

Then he raises an aerosol can to Bruce's face and squeezes the nozzle. Bruce coughs compulsively as the chloroform clogs his throat.

The last thing he hears – his vision darkening the room – is the Joker's voice. "Twenty years late, Batman. I'll have to punish you for that."

8. Bruce wakes to find himself naked save for his mask and tied to the bed.

The Joker crouches over him, stroking his face with a knife and smiling so wide so wide. "I'm not going to let you leave again, Batsy," he says. "You're mine. You've always been mine."

"I am not yours," Bruce manages to croak out. The Joker's smile quirks a little.

"You are. I know your secret," he giggles. The hand not holding the knife strokes up and down Bruce's chest, and slides under the edge of the mask, lifting it an inch of his skin. "I peeked." The knife suddenly bends under the pressure the Joker exerts on it, trying to dig it into Bruce's skin. He doesn't seem to notice that it's not working. "You'll _be_ mine unless you want the whole world to know who Batty-boy is, _Brucie,_" he hisses and digs his nails into the sensitive skin of Bruce's nipple.

"Mine mine mine," he whispers joyously. "Mine!" he crows to the ceiling.

Although just a few days ago, this might have been terrifying, Bruce finds he's not afraid. He's a little sad, because the bonds that hold him to the bed posts are thread – likely picked out from the stitching in the Joker's pale grey pajamas – and the knife to his chest is a plastic disposable.

He rips his wrists free from the bedpost, and seizes the Joker's. The Joker's wide, mad eyes stare at him and he shouts "No!" and struggles against Bruce's hold. "No! You're mine! You can't leave!" His struggles are so weak Bruce can't help but feel pity. He doesn't let go, though.

"Joker, stop," he says. "You're the reason I exist; the reason the Batman exists," he says gently. The Joker freezes.

"I am?"

"You are," he confirms, and lays Joker down on top of the sheets. "Go to sleep."

Joker nods, a little vulnerably, and closes his eyes. Bruce confiscates everything that could possibly be considered a weapon – even the stash of plastic knives and forks in the back of the closet. By the time he's done, Joker really is asleep, and he leaves.

9. There are no long, drawn out goodbyes. Three of the people in the room don't have the patience for them, and Clark has never known what to say to Superman. He feels awkward, standing beside Superman and waiting for Batman to finish booting up the device.

Bruce claps a hand on Batman's shoulder and nods. Batman smiles back.

Superman nods at Clark. And then again at Batman. Clark wants to say something – 'thank you', maybe; 'you turned out well' – but one has already been said, and the other is the start of a long conversation this is not the time or the place for.

"Here goes," Batman says, and the device emits a high-pitched whine and a flash of light and then Batman and Superman stand alone in the control room.

10. Green Arrow is manning the controls in the Watch Tower when Superman and Batman materialize.

"What the...?" he begins, looking from Batman to Superman to the zeta beam – on the other side of the room, and then shakes his head. "Batman, where have you been? I've been calling your comm. for the last five hours. Never mind, Joker's stated he's going to blow up the Gotham City World Peace Monument at midnight. Young Justice moved in. Five minutes ago, _this_ showed up on YouTube."

Batman watches Joker's face – the Joker he remembers, young and just as insane – appear on screen. In the background, Robin struggles against the manacles holding him still. His suit is full of bat shaped holes, revealing the skin and Kevlar underneath.

"_Tick tock, Bats! Time's running out!" _There's a counter in the corner of the screen.

"Where?" Batman snarls.

"The signal's coming from here," Green Arrow answers, pulling up a map of Gotham's warehouse district. A small red signal flashes on top of one of the warehouses.

Batman takes one long look – memorizing the location, and dashes for the zeta beam.

Superman follows and the second they're on Earth, wraps an arm under Batman's shoulders. "We'll fly," he says. "It's faster."

It is.

Batman crashes through a window into the warehouse, interrupting the Joker where he crouches over Robin, knife digging in. Robin is screaming.

It's three o'clock in the morning, and Joker's long since forgotten his plans to blow up the monument. He's just waiting for Batman to show. Batman's never taken this long before.

Batman crashes into the warehouse through a window, and Joker looks up and smiles. "You're home!" he crows. "I knew you'd come!"

Superman crashes through the side of the warehouse, and in the half second of attention Joker gives him, Batman moves.

Young Justice, restrained only by the threat to Robin's life, explode into action.

Joker doesn't stand a chance. Less than five minutes later, Joker's restrained in Superman's grip and Batman carefully extracts Robin from the chains binding him.

"You're a little late," Robin says, with a tiny, tired smile.

BONUS:

11. "Superboy," Superman calls, as Batman calls an end to the debriefing.

Superboy's head snaps around to stare at him, eyes wide and the scowl dropping off his face. It returns and his eyes narrow to watch Superman suspiciously. "What?" he asks, arms crossed defensively.

Superman tries to keep his body language open, friendly, non-threatening. "Come with me," he says, and Superboy's jaw drops, just a little.

"... okay," he says, and hurries to catch up as Superman walks away.

"Joker didn't restrain you," Superman comments.

"He was threatening to kill Robin!" Superboy shouts. "I know, okay? I endangered the mission. But I... he had Robin and I couldn't let him die and I'm not as fast as y- as Kid Flash and even Wally couldn't save Robin. I had to give up!" He glares at Superman, looking tortured.

Superman considers that. "You're right. You weighed the possibility of defeating Joker before Batman arrived at the cost of a team-mate and decided the cost was too high. That won't always be the case, but this time... last night... you made the right decision."

Superboy lights up like it's Christmas – a stark contrast to the dour, black faced man Clark had spent hours with. A gigantic smile spreads across his face. "...really?" he whispers, almost like he can't believe it.

Superman nods. "Really." He pauses an instant before he forges onward. "It's been drawn to my attention that I haven't been entirely fair in the way I've treated you, Superboy. What Cadmus did, in making you, was wrong. But regardless of their intentions, they filled a need I hadn't even thought about before." He smiles wryly. "Even Kryptonians don't live forever. Someday, you _are_ going to put on the cape."

Superboy doesn't say anything, because he doesn't know what he _can_ say. He was born to be Superman... someday, but that dream had gotten scuffed and cracked by insecurities –_I'm not good enough_ – that grew with every failure –_Superman doesn't want me_.

"If last night is any indication, you'll be just fine. But... it wouldn't hurt to be sure. I'll meet you tomorrow at Mount Justice for training."

Superman stands awkwardly, waiting for some kind of reaction that doesn't look to be coming anytime soon. Superboy... is frozen with joy –_training, it's such a little thing but it means so much to him _– and wonder and it's all there to see on his face. Superman nods, and flies off to visit his mother. It's been too long.

"Okay," he hears Superboy say as he leaves, and then – just as he's almost out of earshot – "_Yes!_" and a wordless shout of joy.


	6. This Little Daisy Chain of Ours

Prompt: Garth/Tula/Kaldur/SB/Megan/Wally/Artemis. Make it all unrequited. And have Dick as the only sane one.

. com/yj_anon_?thread=1393527#t1393527

This Little Daisy Chain of Ours

Wally tells Dick that working with Batman has made him three things: 1) a little bit cold, 2) crazy and 3) waaaay too good at his job.

Dick wonders sometimes about the first when missions go wrong and he's the only one who can just accept it. He _knows_ the third is spot on and he's proud, especially when Batman shows that he knows it, too.

The second, though... Dick's pretty sure Wally's got that one backward.

See, he's pretty sure no one else has caught on yet, but Dick's got some experience with normal humans that the rest (other than Wally and Artemis) don't have. And since Artemis started taking classes with him at Gotham Academy – not that she knows it's him, Dick's just another kid in her class – he can _hear_ the way she says Wally's name when he's not around.

Emily from Chem Lab called it: ~_Arty's got a cruuuush~ _

And Wally's got just as much experience with civilians and non-meta heroes, but he doesn't see it, because he's spending way too much time watching M'gann. Dick's covered for him a time or two – in briefings and transit; and at least Wally keeps his head in the game while they're in the field – but Batman looks like he's starting to notice...

Which really means that he notice three weeks ago, but is starting to get annoyed by it now. Dick gives it another two or three days before Batman calls Wally out. Just one more mission like the one with Dr. Fate could get them all killed. Maybe Dick should have talk to him instead; Kaldur _said_ that his role as leader was only temporary... just waiting for Dick to be ready.

But M'gann wouldn't understand why he was coming down on Wally, and she sure wouldn't take it well. She's really into team solidarity. She hasn't noticed that Wally's never his usual dependable self when she's around... mostly because he's _never his usual self_ when she's around.

M'gann watches Superboy.

Dick thinks that at least the team's little daisy chain ends there. But since Aqualad got back from his little vacation in Poseidonis Aqualad's been a little distant from all of them, and that's more problems the team doesn't need. He used to spend a few minutes with each of them; talking to Superboy about life and people and the world, training with Dick, and helping M'gann with dinner. If Artemis and Wally were around, he'd connect with them too, in whatever way suited them best. He doesn't do that anymore.

See? More problems the team doesn't need, because this, what with the way Superboy gets a weird traumatized expression on his face whenever 'M'gann' and 'dinner' get brought up, means that _no one _helps M'gann with dinner anymore . Well, at least her cooking has gotten better. And less destructive. And Wally always jumps to clean up the kitchen when he's in for dinner.

When Kaldur stops showing up for dinner regularly, Dick gets worried. He needs to talk to Aqualad. Before this whole thing starts getting out of control, and Batman has to step in. He peeks a glance into the lounge and, satisfied that Superboy is safely occupied with staring at a static-y tv screen (maybe he should have a word with Superboy too... kid's gotten _weird)_, he leans over the counter separating the lounge from the kitchen.

"Meghan?" he says, and she looks up at him from the cookbook, smiling.

"Yes, Robin?"

"Can you sense around for Aqualad?" he asks. "I just need to know where he is."

"Um... sure," she answers, and then closes her eyes to check. "Oh! He's in his room."

He smiles at her. "Thanks, Meghan. What are you making?"

"Omelettes," she answers with a smile. "I know that it's breakfast food" she continues when he opens his mouth "but Superboy said he likes them." She blushes, red on green.

"Okay," Robin says, "make enough for four, okay?" and he leaves to find Aqualad.

"Alright!" she calls after him.

Robin _could _knock before walking into Kaldur's room, but doesn't. _Batman's Principals of Applied Psychology 101: Never let the subject have control of the conversation. _Aqualad hardly notices anyway. He's holding a picture in his hands. Dick steals a glance at it: Aqualad, a pretty redhead in the two-piece sarongs favoured in Poseidonis, and a nearly-as-pretty brunette with his hair tied back in a half ponytail.

"Robin," Aqualad greets without looking up from the picture.

"Kaldur," Dick answers, because this isn't going to be a Young Justice conversation, just a 'hey what's up with you?' between friends. "What's up with you?"

"I am wondering... what might have been, if I had chosen to remain at the Academy instead of accepting my King's offer to serve him on the surface," Kaldur answers. "And perhaps mourning the future that is now closed to me." And Kaldur tells him everything that happened while he was away – the mission, the Queen's pregnancy, Tula turning him down for Garth who, as far as Kaldur could see, didn't return her feelings, or wasn't aware of them... "He doesn't know how lucky he is," Kaldur finished. "So I told my King that I would return to the surface."

"Well, that sucks," Dick says, knowing that it's not enough. "But you can't turn your friends away for it. I mean, you gave up the chance to have Tula to be here. But she might not have loved you even if you'd stayed, and you've done a lot of good up here on the surface. Could you imagine _Wally_ defining 'normal' for Supes?" That brings a small smile to Kaldur's face. "Besides, there're plenty of... girls... in the sea. And on the surface too. If Tula can't see what she's missing... someone else will."

Kaldur stands and puts the picture away. "Yes... you're right. Thank you, Robin." (Dick hides the relief he feels – he's actually not that great at pep talks.)

"Come on," Dick says. "Meghan's making omelettes for dinner. Should be... well I'd say 'good', but who knows, right? Should be interesting anyway."

Kaldur huffs out a laugh, and smiles "Yes," and follows him out. Dick leads the way, and so gets to see how Superboy is already watching – no longer staring blankly at a television with no signal – when they come into the lounge. Blue eyes pass over Dick in an instant and latch onto Kaldur, just behind him. Superboy relaxes minutely, and smiles just the tiniest bit.

_Oh hell_, Dick thinks.


	7. MTF Anybody

Prompt: I'd like one of our boys to actually be a girl, and nobody knows that and she can't "pass" like she'd want to, even if she gets ahold of hormones and is on them no one can tell some sudden difference, it doesn't magically make her "a real girl" and it just sucks and every time she's reminded it just hurts.

. com/yj_anon_?thread=1825143#t1825143

MTF Anybody

Something went wrong with the cloning process. Superboy's known that for a long time. Since before Wally, Robin and Kaldur pulled him out of the sub-basement of CADMUS. Since before Superboy tried using laser vision and it didn't work.

Superboy has always known that.

Someone suggests giving him a name. Wally suggests 'Frank'. Superboy tells Wally it's a dumb name and he's not taking it. It just... wouldn't feel right.

_See, here's the problem: nothing feels right. His chest is too broad and he's too tall and he walks wrong and he can't fly or shoot lasers with his eyes and Superman won't look at him and he's he. A him. _

He's not sure what he can do about it. An internet search gave him a name for what he feels: transgendered. A girl in a boy's body.

_He bets Superman never ever wondered what wearing a skirt would be like. Maybe he's content with spandex tights. Maybe Superboy could be too. _

Except that he knows he won't be. So he wears cargo pants and a t-shirt, and tries not to think about it.

_There're drugs out there. Hormones. He could grow out his hair..._

He's too tall. His arms are too thick: twice the size of M'gann's and Artemis'. No one would ever believe it.

Still, he has to remind himself not to wince every time he hears his name: Super_boy_.


	8. So not what was asked for

Prompt: They find this secondary lab place and one of the projects is a backup of Project Krypton, or whatever it was called. They get him out, but he isn't as easy to convince as SB, he's more loyal/brainwashed/whatever.

. com/yj_anon_?thread=3973385#t3973385

Soooooo not what was asked for

"Big brother," the smallest of the three says. 'Big brother', they call him, and even though it's what the G-gnomes called him it's still strange and weird and painful to hear, because Superman still doesn't really want anything to do with him.

What's strange is that even though Superboy is Superman's clone, and so are these three, these three, younger than him by a year or two and _physically younger_ that he was when Robin, Wally, and Kaldur broke him out, not one of them looks anything like him. Or like Superman.

"Big Brother, will you join us?" the smallest says, smiling widely – insanely. "Will you join us in Reunion?"


	9. It's Therapeutic

Prompt: Everyone everyone _everyone_ knows the lyrics to "Don't Stop Believing". Even Superboy. He is slightly perplexed by this.

. com/yj_anon_?view=4262921#t4262921

It's Therapeutic

The first time Superboy heard humming, it was in M'gann's voice overlaid by the sounds of pots and pans being taken out, moved, stuck in the oven, washed, and put away. "What- what is that?" he asked.

"Hm? What's what?" she asked him back.

"That sound. With your voice," he said, and she laughed, making him feel awkward and uncomfortable.

"That?" she giggled. "That's humming, Superboy. It's a-"

"I know what it is," he snapped. He just hadn't known what it sounded like. Her eyes widen in alarm, and suddenly he wished he'd just let her tell him. It would've made him look – even less knowledgeable than he already did, but at least M'gann wouldn't have that look on her face. Grudgingly, he asked, "why were you doing it?"

"Um... I'm not really sure. I guess because it's therapeutic, kind of," she said. "You might try it sometime?" she finished, the pitch of her voice rising sharply to turn it into a question. Superboy frowned and said nothing, and eventually she stopped looking at him like that.

He tries it out in his room, alone, where no one can hear him if he doesn't do it right. This, as it turns out, is a good thing, because he's pretty sure he's doing it wrong. The G-gnomes only gave him everything Desmond thought he needed to know. He knows what music is. He has no idea what it sounds like.

The pitch of his voice drifts around aimlessly and tunelessly. It's a failure and, he finds, not very therapeutic at all. After hardly a minute he's even more annoyed than he was when he started, so he stops.

Apparently, the humming isn't finished with _him_ though, because it sneaks up on him at the strangest times. Training alone, throwing punches at the mountain's (fifth) punching bag, he feels vibrations deep in his chest, and he has to remind himself of that failure to relax in his room. Searching the internet for the knowledge that Desmond _hadn't_ felt it necessary to include in his education (except music, he's staying far away from that) he hears his voice box going while one of his heels taps against the floor.

After the third or fourth time, he recognizes a pattern. It's the same set of notes, every time. He retreats to his room, and just lets it out. Almost immediately, like they were waiting, words come into his head, and he _doesn't know how they got there. _

_Just a small town girl, living in a lonely world,_ and then his brain stalls, and he growls, frustrated. Maybe it's what M'gann was singing, and that's how he knows it.

But when he asks – careful with his voice this time; he doesn't want her to think he's angry at her – she tells him she was humming a Martian tune, and hums it again for him. It's nothing like the song that's been stuck in his head for three days.

So he looks it up on the internet. Almost every link the search engine comes up with includes 'Don't Stop Believing' and 'lyrics' in some combination. This is when he freaks, because the information the G-gnomes leave is all carefully laid out, and ordered and he _knows_, he can feel the difference when he's pulling a memory out of what the G-gnomes taught him and what he's learned since then.

And he's sure the G-gnomes didn't teach him this.

He should go to Batman, he knows. But he can't. So instead, he goes to Kid Flash, who, he figures, is least likely to turn him in to the League if he asks KF not to. Except that Wally won't take him seriously.

"Don't Stop Believing?" he asks. "Dude, _everyone _knows that song. Don't stress about it."

But Superboy has to, because he can't trust himself, because _Superman_ can't trust him, and- and – and because a lot of things.

Finally, he resigns himself to telling Batman about it. When he's finished Batman... does nothing. There's no expression on what little Superboy can see of his face, and his mouth stays closed. Finally, he says, "There's some merit to the Jungian theory of the collective unconscious, particularly when combined with the presence of a known telepath with whom frequent mind-links are established. I wouldn't worry about it."

Which Robin later explains can be translated to, "[That's weird, but then, a lot of what I see in this job is weird, and so long as it isn't a lethal weird, I don't care.] I wouldn't worry about it."

Batman is kind of the expert, so Superboy stops worrying.


	10. Earth Boys for Dummies

Prompt: M'gann works out how to shape shift into male forms after some time honing her skills. Superboy is suddenly a lot more interested in her.

. com/yj_anon_?thread=1375607#t1375607

Earth Boys for Dummies

The night that Superboy _almost _kisses her changes things. Superboy drops by at least once a day between training and brooding and playing tag with the Ball to say 'hi' and check in on her. The amount of time he spends brooding starts to lessen, replaced with watching TV together and flying together and cooking together. He looks happier than he has... well, ever.

So M'gann is happy. Really. Well, mostly.

See, once of the few times she'd spent time alone with Robin, the conversation had inevitably turned to Wally's flirting, and Robin had casually mentioned that sex is pretty much the only thing teenage earth-boys think about.

So it's a little distressing that although Superboy spends nearly all day with her – alone with her – and smiles at her and nearly kisses her once or twice (and does kiss her once, and it's the most amazing feeling _ever_)... sex just... never comes up.

Maybe it's because he's Kryptonian. Maybe it's because she's a Martian. (Maybe, her mind whispers at night, it's because she's not nearly so pretty as Wally says.)

She's familiar with the concept of being attracted to someone _emotionally _without being attracted to them _physically. _Maybe he's just not interested in her body – and although she can understand that, it's... a little distressing.

She isn't quite able to decide who to go to for advice, much less work up the courage to do so, before the situation resolves itself.

Her uncle tells her to keep practicing turning into males, so she does, while Superboy is off training in the gym. She flattens her earth-girl breasts – _flat, curved, flat, curved, flat _– and increases her height – _tall, short, tall _– and increases the width of her shoulders – _wide, slim, wide, slim _– and then tries them all together, and... she returns to her usual earth-girl appearance with a shake of her head. Too wide shoulders, not enough height and her face didn't look right without earth-girl breasts. The beard didn't help either.

So she spends a few hours on the internet looking at earth-boy anatomy and staring at faces, before she goes back to practicing, feeling like she'll never master it. She hasn't even attempted a penis yet.

Finally, she thinks she's got it. Shifting one part of her body at a time – slowly, and holding on to each piece as she achieves the look she wants– she gives herself a wider jaw, shorter hair, a hint of stubble, a flat chest. She increases her height and the breadth of her shoulders, and narrows her hips, and –

She yelps, and nearly loses it at the sound of her own voice, at the sight of Superboy, watching her through the mirror.

His expression looks like Wally's, back when he'd first seen her. Awestruck, and wanting.

_Oh. Oh! _She thinks. _Is that what the problem was?_

And Superboy flushes.


	11. Help Us, Obi Wallace West!

Prompt: Wally West was an ordinary science geek living in Central City. An ordinary geek who has really weird dreams of being able to run really fast with a group of other super powered/skilled teenagers. Teenagers who stalk him during the day and one tiny blue eyed teen who sometimes sits in the tree outside his window.

. com/yj_anon_?thread=4687625#t4687625

Help us, Obi Wallace West

The first time Wally wakes up in the middle of the night, it's because he fell behind on his science project because he was too busy staring at Jessica Memiri's boobs. She has a really, really nice set of them, as Wally would tell any (guy) who asked. Really nice.

As his alarm starts beeping it's four o'clock chime, waking him from a dream about a close encounter of the third base kind, he opens his eyes to see a boy with the most piercing blue eyes sitting in the tree outside his window. He stares blankly, almost completely sure the kid's a hallucination.

The boy looks at Wally looking back at him and smiles a little, sadly. Then he stands –_on the branch –_and lifts... something, it's too dark to tell, and he's gone. Shaking his head at the weirdness his subconscious can dream up, he gets down to work on his robot.

The second time Wally wakes up in the middle of the night, it's because waking up so early the night before screwed with his sleep schedule. He sees, without much surprise, the boy sitting outside his window. He's a lot bigger tonight, but his eyes are still blue, and as soon as he sees that Wally's awake, he leaves.

Two new girls with faces and bodies prettier than Jessica Memiri's join their class over lunch; one blonde, one a red head. They claim the empty seats beside him, which is suspicious in and of itself, because although Wally's self-esteem hardly suffers, he's a science geek. Pretty girls don't give half a glance at science geeks until college. If then.

"Um... can I help you?" he asks. The red head smiles prettily – he's half in love with her smile already – and introduces herself. Megan Mores. Such a pretty name.

When the blonde snorts, he realizes he just said that out loud. He blushes.

"I'm Artemis," the blonde says, and Wally blinks.

"Okay... and you're talking to me, why? I mean, I know I'm some pretty hot stuff-" he twists his lips in a wry grin "- but the jocks are _over there_." And he points to the jocks' table.

"We know," Artemis says.

"We wanted to talk to you," Megan says, and Wally jaw drops.

"Wally," Artemis says casually, as she and Megan walk him to the bus stop. "Do you read comic books?"

"Yeeeees," he answers. "You know, you still haven't told me why you're hanging out with _me_. Is this an 'I need good marks' thing, or an 'I'm pumping you for information I can later use to make fun of you' kind of thing? Just so we're clear."

"Wally! I'd never make fun of you!" Megan protests, and okay, yeah, she's not the type.

"I would," Artemis says, smirking. "But that's not what this is about. Do you read comic books or not?"

"Yeah, I do, so what?"

"Do you believe in alternate universes?" she prompts.

Wally frowns, trying to figure out where she's going with this. Maybe she's secretly a fan of Star Trek or something. "You mean like the good guys are the bad guys and the bad guys are the good guys kind, where suddenly all the good guys have goatees?"

"Yeah, sure," she answers in such a way that Wally realises that no, she's not a fan of Star Trek. She'd have gotten the goatee reference. So what the hell is she getting at?

"Yeah, sure," he says, too confused to snark.

"How 'bout aliens?" and she's staring him in the eye like it's a challenge. This isn't about making fun of him later, she said. He's not sure if he can believe her. But then, if he were suspicious of everybody all the time, he'd never have met Linda, and she's just about the best friend he's got. So he answers,

"Yes. What is this about?" She smiles, and Megan smiles and Wally should probably be suspicious.

"Follow us."

They lead him to a warehouse out on the docks, and slip in through an unlocked side door. Crates are stacked up high all around them.

"Oh, one thing. Wally, don't freak out," Artemis warns, looking back at him over her shoulder.

"Wow. You realize nothing good ever follows that statement, right?" he snorts, and then follows her pointing finger to Megan, who blushes.

"Just... don't freak out, okay Wally?" she asks, hesitantly, and he nods. Suddenly, her skin pulses and bulges and in an instant he's staring at himself. With boobs.

To his credit, he cuts off his shriek almost immediately.

Just as quick as the last transformation, Megan turns back to herself, but this time she's got green skin with deeper green freckles. She frowns at him. "You said you wouldn't freak out," she says.

His jaw drops, and for a moment, he's speechless. "You- you're an alien," he guesses, and she nods. "From an alternate universe?" he guesses again, Artemis' leading questions clicking into place in his mind. Except... "So where do the comic books come in?"

"We're superheroes," Artemis answers. "Needed to see if you believed in that kind of stuff here."

"So why me?" he asks.

"Because we need to get home. And Robin can't do it alone," Megan answers.

"Help us, Obi Wallace West; you're our only hope," Artemis snarks. Ah. A Star Wars fan. He knew there was something off about her.


	12. Beat the Odds

Prompt: Wally knows a lot of statistics. Morbid statistics.

http:/ community. livejournal. com/yj_anon_?thread=4945673#t4945673

Beat The Odds

Wally's fairly certain that, when he receives the acceptance letter to Gotham U (with its exceptional criminal justice program), _isomething/i_ will happen to keep him from going. There's a %68.97 probability of it, given that he's a superhero, and this is what happens to superheroes.

He's right. The world ends the night before he's supposed to be packed and gone. It un-ends – due to the combined efforts of the Justice League, Young Justice, and alternate reality versions of themselves from about six different realities - slightly before the clock ticks over to the day he's supposed to be gone, but still, he ticks it off as a point on the 'Wally was right' side of the folder. Thus far, the other side is empty.

His parents don't like it, he knows: the list making, the calculated probabilities. They ate it, actually, but Wally... He's not sure he can't get by without it anymore. He's not sure that his nerves would survive a trip to the store without calculating the odds of having to face Captain Cold, Professor Zoom or Captain Boomerang II on the way home.

His parents, Uncle Barry, don't think it's healthy. He doesn't see how it can be anything _ibut/i_.

And then he wakes up one morning on the day of a test to a phone call from phone. Happy Birthday, they tell him.

Happy Birthday. He's twenty.

He's twenty and they want him home tonight.

For once, he doesn't object and pretend that he can't run home faster than the bus can make it to the end of the block. So he speeds through the test, stops a mugging on the way (%96.02 probability, and another checkmark) and goes home.

There's a Marvel comic X-men theme going on, apparently. That... he didn't predict, because he hasn't read comics in years. But all of Young Justice is there (%32.57 probability), and Uncle Barry bought three 4 gallon tubs of ice cream (%100 probability that he'd eat one all by himself).

He eats himself sick on cake and ice cream (another checkmark), and then finally gets around to asking about the theme.

Robin gives him a blank look. "X-men?" he asks. "Who're they?"

"You know, the comics?" Wally prompts.

"Dude, this isn't about comics," Robin says slowly.

"So, what is it about?" Wally asks, honestly stumped. Robin pulls out the book. The Book. The one that's got all of Wally's lists and statistics in it. He opens the book to page one, and points to a single entry.

Die before 20 y.o. %89.54

"It's about the fact that you beat the odds," Robin says, and hands him a pen.

Wally smiles, and puts a big X next to that one.


	13. Best Friend, Thirteen

Prompt:_Gentlemen, it's been an honor._

That line _still_gives me chills. I'd like to see Robin pull off his mentor's trick, where he gets to say goodbye before pulling off a heroic sacrifice in YJ-verse. Or, really, any of the YJ. Make sure that Justice League is listening, too.

Would also be A-OK with Robin (or whoever) surviving at the end~

Link: http:/ community. livejournal. com/yj_anon_?thread=4944649#t4944649

Best Friend, Thirteen

It's a bit like the prisoner's dilemma, Wally decides, upon reflection. You and a friend are arrested. If one of you confesses and the other doesn't, one gets off scot free, and the other ten years. If neither of you confess, you both get five years. If you both confess, you both get ten. Whether or not you committed the crime – whether or not you deserve the punishment – never gets called into question.

(iHe's the only one who thinks this, he knows, because it's only when your brain operates at superspeed that in-the-moment reflection is possible./i)

It's a bit like the prisoner's dilemma, Wally thinks, except for all the ways it isn't.

If one of them stays to keep weight on the pressure plate that is the only thing keeping the roof of this facility

(i an underground facility – what is it with Batman missing those?/i)

above their heads, then it severely reduces the chances of the rest of them getting out. Or rather, if one of them capable of surviving the explosion – just in case – stays, it reduces the chances for the rest.

If all of them stay, the timer on the plate will count down to nothing, and the explosives in the ceiling will collapse the facility around them and kill them all.

If none of them stay, the guards will break down the door, remove whatever they left on the plate, and kill them all.

They don't have enough time to get out before the guards break down the door. They're too far down to call for help from the Justice League.

Whether or not they deserve to die never gets called into question.

None of them are saying anything, each tallying up the chances of survival if they stay, if they go. They have a few seconds – maybe a minute to decide – and that's it.

"I'll stay," Wally hears, and the first thing that pops out of his mouth is –

"No! Rob you can't!"

because Robin's his best friend, and thirteen, and the least likely to survive the inevitable explosion.

"I have to. I'm the only one who makes sense," Robin says. He won't look at them, instead tapping the touch-holo-screen of his wrist comp while he details to them exactly why:

M'gann has to play scout to avoid the forces in the twenty plus floors between them and freedom.

They'll need Superboy's super speed and super strength to clear the path to the staircases – because whoever built this facility didn't bother with fire safety, and each flight only takes you up one level.

Kaldur will be needed to keep the guards off their backs.

Artemis has to keep both the path forward clear of any guards M'gann can't take care of herself, and take out any guards Kaldur can't take care of.

"That, and she's a long distance fighter, not a martial artist like me. She won't be able to fight off the guards outside her bow range and then we're all dead," he adds.

"And me?" Wally asks.

"You're going to be with Superboy, opening doors."

Wally shakes his head. "No. Every door's in lockdown, remember? Each of them's connected to a separate server that needs to be hacked from scratch. You have to be there, Rob. ... I'll stay. You have to be there to open the door."

Robin frowns. "Even a minute spent waiting for me to hack the doors severely decreases your chances of survival. Whoever opens the doors has to get there before the others. And you idon't/i need me to open the doors. Just my computer."

And takes off the wrist comp, and wraps it carefully around Wally's wrist. He shows him how to use it, in quiet tones. Wally listens, a lump in his throat.

"Robin," M'gann begins, and Robin snaps at her,

"You don't have time for this. Get going!"

Only they still don't move for several seconds, and Robin softens, and grins, a little bitterly. He takes Superboy's place on the pressure plate. "Gentlemen," he nods to each of them in turn, "Ladies," and to Artemis and M'gann.

"It's been an honor. Now get out." He pivots on the plate, cape flaring out slightly with the movement, and starts hacking into the base's central server that he is only just able to reach. To get the information they came for, to get it iout/i.

Wally's arms wrap tight around him one last time. (i_Best friend – thirteen – least likely to survive.)_

And then they run. Wally reaches the first door first, and pulls out the hack-cord on the wrist comp. Robin's tiny face pops up on screen, red and then green, and the door slides open just as he reaches it.

Getting up the stairs is just as difficult as he knows it will be. There are guards everywhere, and there's that half-minute delay while the others disengage the enemy and follow him through the door. The job isn't made any easier by the knowledge that iRobin

(Best friend)

is down there/i and Wally's eyes won't stop tearing up.

On sub-basement floor 13,

(iThirteen/i)

Artemis twists an ankle, and Wally starts carrying her piggyback. He'll never admit later how grateful he is that she doesn't mention the tears streaming down his cheek. In return he doesn't mention hers.

Superboy shouts his rage and frustration and pain with every enemy guard and soldier that he recklessly tosses out of the way. Kaldur makes no sounds, at all. M'gann weeps softly.

It all feels so wrong; to leave him behind, because they're a team aren't they? Isn't that what teamwork's about?

But turning back now would turn his- Wally doesn't even know, because not one word in the English language is strong enough to convey the loss of his i_best friend – thirteen – least likely to survive_.

On sub basement floor 5, they hear and feel the first of the explosions.

On floor 2, the feel the floor groaning and bowing underneath them.

On the ground level, out in the air, M'gann lifts Artemis out of his arms, Superboy holds tight to Kaldur and jumps, and Wally works up enough speed to outdistance the crater as it's being made.

Because a crater is all that's left.

"Can you hear anything?" Kaldur asks, looking down at the destruction. Superboy stares at him for a long time, uncomprehendingly.

"Robin's heartbeat," Wally snaps, voice cracking on the way out of his throat. "Can you hear his heartbeat?"

Superboy still doesn't answer, eyes shifting between Kaldur and Wally, face screwed up with pain.

M'gann puts a finger to her temple, and Superboy's gaze snaps over to her, and she says, "He can't hear anything. The explosion and the collapse..." she trails off, and then repeats "He can't hear anything."

Wally swallows roughly, thinking _he could be alive. He could still be alive. He could be _dying _and we wouldn't know_, and that the most painful thought he's ever had, and tears spill down his cheeks again, and it's like he's set off a chain-reaction because he's suddenly not the only one.

At some point, the Justice League arrives. Batman scans their ranks, and asks "Where's Robin?"

None of them can answer him. M'gann bursts out in a fresh jag of tears, sobs tearing painfully out of her throat. Wally's just about there himself, and he knows he's in shock because it's somehow important that he not lose face by collapsing like he wants to.

Batman looks over them, somehow perfectly still even in motion, (_he _knows, Wally thinks, _he already knows_) and his gaze lands on the wrist comp in Wally's grip. He holds out one hand for it.

Wally holds the wrist comp against his chest (_Robin gave it to me, it's all I have left)_, and thinks selfish things until he realizes that Robin is... was... his best friend, but Batman is... was... his _father_, and he hands it over before he can think about it, before he can change his mind and justify being selfish again.

He feels Uncle Barry's arms fold around him from behind, like Martian Manhunter is folded around M'gann. Other mentors follow suit until Superboy and Batman are the only ones standing alone. Somehow, in halted turns, they explain what happened.

Batman radios Superman to come – to help clear away the wreckage, to find survivors and try to salvage the information Young Justice was sent out to get – but his eyes bore into Superboy – trembling where he stands – with a narrow-eyed gaze and Wally can see that he's not the only one.

Superman arrives, takes in the scene, and almost instantly he's examining Superboy with the same look all the other adults have on their faces. Wally can _feel_ what they're thinking.

_If it had been Superboy, this wouldn't have happened. If Superboy had stayed behind, there would be six living children, not five. _

"Stop it," he manages to force out past the lump in this throat. He jerks himself out of Barry's hold to glare at them properly. "Just stop it. R- Robin," he chokes, "Robin volunteered. He- he- we all weighed the odds. If it... if it had been a-anyone else," and then he can't continue because he's crying again, breaking down in his uncle's arms and damn dignity, and damn face, _he just lost his best friend_!

"None of us would have made it out," Artemis finishes for him, her eyes red-rimmed but not tear-filled. "He saved all of us."

Batman nods, roughly, at Superboy, who still won't meet his gaze. M'gann stumbles over to him, and holds him, and he leans heavily against her, not crying like Wally but trembling with suppressed anger and frustration and just as much loss as the rest of them.

Superman says nothing, only give Superboy a long look before he flies down to the wreckage. "I can hear six heart-beats," he says, and starts shifting rubble. Wally starts. Six? He thought- he wouldn't have thought _anyone _could have survived that. Green Lantern, Wonder Woman and Martian Manhunter are quick to join Superman.

_One-in-six_, Wally thinks. _There were more than a hundred guards in the facility, and Robin. What are the chances that Robin is one in the six?_

He sees Superboy make a belated, aborted start for the edge, before the Flash puts a hand on his shoulder. "Hey," he says, even though he knows Superboy can't hear him. "It's okay. Let us handle it."

Superboy stares up at him, eyes unfocused, and slowly sits on the ground. Wally and the others crowd around him, leaning against each other for support, for comfort. Slowly, more Justice League members trickle in – Red Tornado, Hawkgirl and Zatanna, and others Wally's never met before. When Black Canary arrives, she sits with them, not speaking, just... sitting.

They clear away the wreckage in a painstakingly slow process, uncovering layers of concrete, dead bodies, concrete as they go.

They find four survivors almost immediately. Three were on the ground floor, one on the one right below it. Then it's dead body after dead body after dead body and none of them are Robin – which is a relief, but they aren't even halfway down yet.

It's nearly a full day that they sit there, waiting silently for their hopes to be crushed. Slowly, Superboy's hearing comes back.

Absently, Wally's sure that he's never stayed in one position for so long in his life, but he has no energy to move. He keeps not having energy until, over the lip of the crater, he realizes he can count twenty three separate layers imbedded in the bedrock.

The Justice League is twenty three floors down, and Robin is... was... on the twenty fourth sub-basement floor, when Superboy says, "One of the heartbeats just stopped."

(Optional happy ending)

Wally stares at him for a long minute, hoping beyond hope that Superboy didn't mean what he said. That surely, this was some mistranslation from CADMUS to English. Because if one of the hearts isn't beating anymore, then statistically speaking, there's a less than one percent chance that Robin is the one remaining heart beat- or, or maybe it's higher than that, because the League has already pulled out a lot of bodies and the rest of the survivors. Wally really, really wishes he knew how many guards were in the facility in the first place.

And they're still pulling bodies out, from the twenty third sub-basement floor, and none of those bodies are Robin, and Wally's vibrating in place with the need to _know_. Finally, _finally_, they pull out Robin. Almost immediately, he's in Superman's arms, and Superman is _flying away_. _Why is he flying away? He wouldn't be taking Robin if he were dead, right?_ Wally hopes, desperately.

A few seconds takes an eternity in super speed. Wally waits and hopes and waits and hopes and waits and-

Black Canary's communicator crackles, and Batman's voice says, "He's alive."

And that's all Wally has ever wanted to hear.


	14. Bruce Wayne's Christmas Charity Ball

Prompt: The first person Robin revealed his secret identity to was Roy.

I just really want some kind of interaction with these two, ok? Gen or slash, IDGAF.

Link: http:/ community. livejournal. com/yj_anon_?thread=5514633#t5514633

Based on this one: http:/ community. livejournal. com/yj_anon_?thread=1269937#t1269937

I can only hope to do it Justice. (lol)

Bruce Wayne's Christmas Charity Ball

Dick's first Christmas at Wayne Manor is so vastly different from his Christmas' at his parents that he can't actually enjoy it at all. Sure, he smiles (wanly) when paparazzi inevitably show up for a snapshot of Bruce Wayne and his new ward, but mostly he stands at the edge of Bruce Wayne's charity ball and tries not to cry. Batman expects him to be present, not cheerful, so he spends most of Christmas alone. He's even a little bit grateful when he gets sent off to bed at nine – Bruce Wayne's parties are renowned for not being child-friendly.

His second Christmas is a little better. The wound isn't so fresh, and he's not the only person under twenty-five at the party. Oliver Queen from Star City brought along his ward this year, and they stand together on the side lines. The other boy is several years older than Dick, fourteen to Dick's ten, and looks several years older than that in a tuxedo with a red tie.

"I'm Richard Grayson," Dick says to the side of the other boy's face. The boy looks at him from the corner of his eye, and answers,

"I know," he answers. Dick frowns, and he continues, grudgingly, "Roy. Harper."

His gaze returns to the crowd of dancers and sycophants and politicos. He's clearly uninterested in continuing a conversation with a boy much younger than him. Dick would walk away, except that Roy is the only person even close to his age. So he sticks close, and Roy lets him, probably for the same reason.

"So, you're Mr. Queen's ward?" Dick tries again, and again, Roy flicks his gaze over without turning his head.

"Yeah," he answers. "After Mr. Wayne took you in, taking orphans in turned into the newest fashion statement, so Ollie took me in."

Dick nods, seriously. There are students like that in his class. He never hangs out with them. Three are only months new to Gotham's elite, and still shell-shocked over their parents' deaths, and the fourth is... strange. Budding psychopath strange.

He tells Roy about his classmates, and Roy smiles grimly at the description of the fourth. He offers his own share of classmates whose foster parents followed in Bruce's footsteps. "We're all screwed," he says. "They took us in because it's 'the thing to do', not because they have any experience parenting. Or because they actually care." He mutters the last bitterly.

"Mr. Queen doesn't care about you?" Dick asks, incredulously.

Roy sighs, and shakes his head. "No, it's not- Ollie cares. But that doesn't make him a parent."

Dick nods, because he can sympathize. If it weren't for Alfred, he's pretty sure Bruce – and Batman for that matter – wouldn't have any idea what to do with him.

They end up talking, and it's not long before they get shuffled out of the party at nine. For Dick, it's a welcome respite, because now he and Roy can _really_ talk. For Roy, it's an insult, and one he doesn't take very well. Dick practically has to drag Roy up to his room.

As soon as they're in, and the door's closed behind them, he grins. "Alright. So, how's Star City?"

Roy blinks, his scowl fading. "What?"

"How's Star City?" Dick says. "For crime. You know, fighting the bad guys, saving the day?"

Roy scowls again. "I don't know what you're talking about," he lies, and Dick knows because Roy's gaze is fixed just over Dick's shoulder.

Dick crosses his arms. "Please. You expect me to believe that you live with Green Arrow, and you don't know anything about crime fighting?" he snorts.

A flicker of anger crosses Roy's face, and he swallows. "Ollie isn't Green Arrow."

Dick grins. "It's okay," he says. "I'm not going to tell anyone." Roy doesn't look particularly mollified, so Dick continues. "Wanna know how I know?"

Roy nods.

"Well, One, you're wearing a red tie, and Mr. Queen's wearing a green one. Two, you said Mr. Queen took you in last February, which is incidentally when Speedy started showing up in Star City. Three, Mr. Queen's beard. 'Nough said."

Roy growls. "I'm gonna kill him," he mutters, and clenches one fist. "A _ten year old_ figured it out."

Dick laughs. "Not exactly _any_ ten year old. The last reason I know? Batman told me."

Roy freezes. "Batman...?"

Dick nods, and covers his eyes with both hands, slitting his fingers to peer at Roy. "I know what Gotham's like for crime, Roy. How's Star City?"

Roy opens his mouth, closes it, and then starts chuckling. "Batman, huh?" he whispers.

And Dick just nods, smiling widely.


	15. Not Much To Get Worked Up About

Prompt: Artemis comes out about her dark past. Maybe they run into Cheshire again and she spills the beans, maybe they run into the Sportsmaster instead. But the point is, the team is told Artemis used to a villain/assassin/in the League of Shadows/whatever (keep it vague if you want, since we don't know yet).

The team just kinda shrugs.

http:/ community. livejournal. com/yj_anon_?thread=5577609#t5577609

Not Much To Get Worked Up About

"Guys, I- I can't-" Artemis whispered, face pale under her mask. "I have to tell you something."  
The call had come in at 1:30 in the morning on a Saturday. Sportsmaster. Jewellery store break-in. Two GCPD officers dead already.  
Artemis hung back while the rest were already running for M'gann's bioship. She wouldn't have said anything if it hadn't been for the looks she'd been getting over her teammates' shoulders.  
"What?" Superboy asked.  
"Yeah," Wally piped up with. "It's a crime. We fight crime. Not much to get worked up about."  
No help for it now. She'd known it would come out eventually, and really it was for the best that she tell them instead of the team finding out... some other way. She clenched her fists to stop them trembling. She just wished she'd found the courage to do this _before_ she'd gotten on the ship. "It's Sportsmaster. He's- he's my Dad."  
Silence met her announcement. And then,  
"Oh, is that all?" Wally.  
"I sympathize with your plight. Would you rather remain here while we apprehend him?" Kaldur.  
"No duh." Robin.  
Superboy and M'gann opened their mouths but Artemis cut them both off.  
"Don't you guys get it? My _Dad _is _Sportsmaster. _A _bad guy_. By all rights, I should be out there with him, running around as-" she choked a little, which was at least better than a sob. "I used to go by Tigress."  
"I know," Robin said. "Don't _you_ get it?" and his voice was only a little bit mocking. "We _don't care_. Batman's got files on every criminal who's ever set foot in Gotham. It didn't take much to connect the fact that your last name and Sportsmaster's are the same."  
"Not the mention the whole 'my dad wants me to kill you' thing," Wally added.  
"I must admit to some initial suspicions," Kaldur said quietly. "Although you, Red Arrow and Green Arrow are all archers, Green Arrow favours brawling in addition to archery and Red Arrow has followed his footsteps. If you truly were Green Arrow's niece, I would have assumed that you would be much more proficient in Black Canary's lessons on martial combat."  
M'gann looked a little sheepish as she admitted, "You were very nervous when Green Arrow told us you were his niece, and then very relieved when we didn't protest that. It was... somewhat obvious that he was lying."  
Superboy... didn't say anything, so Artemis had to prod. "What, you're not going to add in how you knew?" she snapped.  
Superboy shook his head. "I didn't. But you would never have been allowed to join Young Justice if Green Arrow and Batman didn't trust you, so... and besides. I know better than anyone that just being related to someone... doesn't really make you like them." He turned his face away, but they all knew who he was thinking about.  
Artemis nearly slumped in her seat in relief. "So you all knew something was up? Why didn't you say anything before now?" she whispered.  
"We were waiting for you to be ready to tell us," M'gann said. "We would have understood if you hadn't, but... We're glad you did." She gave Artemis a gentle smile. Kaldur reached forward to put a hand on Artemis' shoulder, and murmured,  
"If you ever wish to speak, I am always willing to listen."  
Artemis gave him – gave all of them – a smile back. "Thanks guys," she whispered, honestly touched.

"Seriously, Artemis? 'I got confused with a movie I watched' after we all _lost our memories_ really isn't the greatest excuse."  
"Shut up, Wally."


	16. Bday Present

Prompt: Artemis/Robin. Artemis in male drag, Robin in female. Can be CDFJ, or just for the hell of it, but go nuts. (exhibit A: Artemis in a suit. c'mon. You KNOW you want that.)

http:/ community. livejournal. com/yj_anon_?thread=5441417#t5441417

B-day Present

"Remind me again why I have to be in drag?" Artemis asks, teeth clenched. She sweeps a hand over the crown of her head, feeling the stiff strands of her gelled down pony tail. She'd slicked it back and tied it so tight it's giving her a headache, but it's the only way the fedora will sit properly. She leans carefully around the corner to glance at the entrance to the club, trying not to get dust on the zoot suit. Three guards doubling as bouncers, and the streets are empty. On a Saturday night. If that wasn't enough to scream 'gang leader's hideout', she doesn't know what is.  
Robin adjusts his mid-calf length skirt one last time, and glances at himself in his compact before his eyes – _blue, Robin has blue eyes, why is that so familiar?_ Artemis thinks_ –_ glare up at her. "Because Batman's birthday is coming up and he's a hard man to buy for. How's my make up?"  
She casts a glance at him. "It's fine."  
Robin nods. "Alright. Show time. Just follow the script, and we'll be fine."  
They round the corner, swaggering – for Artemis – and sauntering – for Robin – up to the club's entrance. Artemis glares the bouncers into submission and the doors open before them, thirties swing spilling out onto the street.  
"Babyface!" Artemis shouts as soon as they're in. The hulking man – with a head far too small for his shoulders – turns to look at her.  
"Now who are you to be comin' in to _my _bar?" he asks, voice completing the Chicago gangster impression the entire club has going on. "I was just about to have some fun with my honeydoll, see, and you're interrupting me, see?"  
A... woman... in a pink skirt suit hangs off his arm. If Robin hadn't warned Artemis about Manface... well, she'd probably gag.  
"You mean you didn't hear I was coming?" she sneers. "I thought for sure Ma would've gotten through to you this time, see?" she slips into the accent almost painfully naturally.  
"Your ma?" he asks, suspiciously.  
"My ma," Artemis parrots back. "Your sister? Martha? She's my mother, see? Or don't tell me you don't care nothing about family."  
And just like that they're in. Artemis introduces herself as Girlface, and Robin as his fiancée, Babydoll. Robin's done his research, Artemis has to admit. The hardest thing about this job isn't the lying, it's making sure she doesn't gag every time she sees Babyface and Manface getting cozy. And trying not to feel too dirty when she does the same with Robin.  
She gets Babyface to send away the guards with a quick mention of wanting to give Babyface some private news about Martha. From there, it's all revealing who they really are, tearing off their disguises, dodging bullets, and trying to hold down Babyface long enough to get the cuffs on him.  
They leave the two next to the Batsignal with a note pinned to his chest: _Please leave for Batman. B-day present. Thx, Robin, _and an envelope with a card in it stapled to that.  
It was kind of a pain in the ass, but the look on Commissioner Gordon's face in the morning is _priceless_.


	17. I Got Bit By A Tiger Once

Prompt:

Inspiration: http: / www. youtube. Com /watch?v=b7KYAVIOAMI&feature=player_embedded  
Robin pulls off some of his awesome acrobatics that have his team seriously questioning whether Robin's truly an ordinary human or not. 

http:/ yj-anon-meme. livejournal. com ?thread=6237577#t6237577

I Got Bit By A Tiger Once

Artemis mutters a curse word as they pull up short. The ground ahead of them is broken into a canyon ahead of them. The gap is interspersed with flat topped stalagmites in places, but is otherwise a sheer drop into nothing.

"Can this place get any more sucky?" she asks rhetorically.

"Probably," Kid Flash answers. "If it weren't, Klarion wouldn't have sent us here."

"There's probably a monster waiting on the other side," Robin agrees.

"I think we need to be more concerned with the monster on this side," M'gann says, rising high into the air to watch the landscape behind them. "And it's approaching very quickly."

"We need to get across," Kaldur decides. "M'gann, you fly one of us. Superboy, you can jump carrying another..." he trails off.

"I could probably jump it, if I get a running start," Wally says doubtfully.

"I'll make two trips," M'gann says, and Kaldur counters, "We shouldn't separate our forces."

Robin laughs. "No problem. I've got this, guys."

And then he runs straight for the edge, leaping at the last moment and – cart wheeling isn't the word, Artemis knows, but she doesn't know what the right word _is_. Robin flips across the gorge, body ramrod straight, hands and feet touching down on the stalagmites, his body switching direction when necessary without a break in the flow.

When the gap is too great, he pinwheels in mid air; keeping his height while his momentum drags him forward. In less than thirty seconds he's across, and then M'gann's hands lift fit themselves in Artemis' armpits, and they're _all_ across. Robin is grinning triumphantly.

"What _are_ you?" she asks, voice only partially disguised by the sonic boom of Superman's landing. She asks, because Robin just _flipped_across a fifty foot chasm.

Kid Flash's legs slipping out from under him as he lands at a bad angle, and his butt hits the ground. "Seriously, dude, what was that?"

"Gymnastics," Robin answers, smirking.

Artemis snorts. "Yeah, right. Whatever happened to" and she raises her voice to a mocking pitch " 'It's nice not to be the only non-meta on the team, Artemis'?"

Kid Flash gets up slowly, rubbing his ankles. He gives Robin a mock-hurt expression totally ruined by the grin on his face. He's not actually angry, Artemis realizes, not like she is. "No kidding. You should have told me, Rob. What happened, did you get bitten by a radioactive rabbit?"

Robin snorts. "Nope. Got bit by a tiger once, though. Come on; let's go. Klarion's gotta be around here somewhere."

While they run, Robin hangs back a second to run beside her. "I'm really not a meta-human," he says, as quietly as he can over the sound of six sets of pounding feet. "I'm just really, really good at gymnastics."

She doesn't look at him. "Uh huh. Sure."

"Okay, seriously, what is your problem? I'm one hundred percent fully non-meta human! I didn't lie to you!"

"Really?" she hisses. "Because _that_ was not normal."

"If you're looking for normal," he says. "You're looking in the wrong place."  
He sighs, and whispers, "I grew up in a circus, Artemis. You wouldn't have been able to find 'normal' there, either."

Since her childhood life wouldn't have touched 'normal' either, Artemis supposes she'll have to get over herself. It's just that she's the least versatile member of the group, and once, she'd thought she and Robin were the same. But they're not.

(Once she had been Tigress, and one day, it will come back to bite her in the ass, and then they will be the same again. Sort of. And that'll be alright, she supposes. If he ever forgives her for lying to him.)


	18. Just Not The Same

Prompt: As Superboy becomes more and more comfortable with "normal" human culture, he discovers that he really loves... "large tracts of land". "Gazoingas". "Melons". "Breasts". "Boobs".

Unfortunately, Cadmus didn't think to teach him social graces, so he has a habit of constantly making people aware of this fact. Supers, non-supers, it doesn't matter.

Crack. Hilarious crack.

And, gen please? I like yaoi too... But could I not have this turn into "[insert male character here] converts Superboy with the power of his dick"? Sorry... T_T

http:/ community. livejournal. com/yj_anon_?thread=5972105#t5972105

Just Not The Same

"Are you sure?"

Superboy tilts his head to one side, and says "Yes."

"Seriously? Nothing?" And Wally waggles his hips a little. "Not even a smidge?"

Superboy shrugs. "No. I'm sure it's a very nice penis, but it's just not nearly as nice as M'gann's rack. And Artemis'. Well, Artemis' boobs are smaller, but they're still nice."

"Yeah, I know," Wally groans, and zips up again. He breathes a heavy sigh. "You know, if you were gay, I would have infinitely better chances with _both_ of them."

"Sorry," Superboy says, but he doesn't sound like he is at all.

"Guys?" Robin says. "Is it at all possible to have this conversation _somewhere else_? _Anywhere else_? Kaldur and I are trying to shower here!"

Kaldur's says nothing but his eyes are widewidewide and his face is really, really red.

"...sorry guys," Wally murmurs for both of them.

"Also!" Artemis voice echoes from the other side of the shower room partition. "M'gann and I can totally hear you! _Not cool_!"


	19. Wisdom Is

Prompt: It's movie night at Mount Justice, and M'Gann chooses a movie she's wanted to see for awhile. Some aren't impressed by the choice, but stay silent and watch anyway.

One of the boys gets affected by it more than the others, and starts to feel that awful little lump in their throat. He can't get up, because that will draw attention to himself, but if he stays, someone will STILL notice...oh no, his eyes are welling up...

http:/ community. livejournal. com/yj_anon_?thread=5580681#t5580681

Wisdom Is Learning From Another's Mistakes

"People don't normally just start singing, right?" Superboy asks suspiciously. M'gann shoots him a Look – it's the third interruption so far, and they're only not even half an hour into the movie. Still, Kaldur feels compelled to answer.

"No, not normally," he says. "However, this is a musical, so singing is to be expected." M'gann shushes him, and he returns her glare with an apologetic gaze. On screen, Guinevere starts shouting to someone – who isn't present – called St. Genevieve, and Kaldur wishes he knew who that was. So far, the movie – despite being about as famous a figure as King Arthur – is nearly incomprehensible.

Robin and Kid Flash aren't even paying attention, he notes, instead playing thumb-war with each other where they sit on the floor. Well, actually, Kaldur and M'gann are likely the only ones really watching the movie, despite Superboy and Artemis' eyes both staring in the general direction of the screen.

The fact is, for all that M'gann has really wanted to watch _Camelot_ for an entire week, it's a very old movie about an even older time period. The style of speech is vastly different from what Kaldur is used to hearing, every character speaks in an accent and, well, after Tula... love stories just don't appeal.

Still, he watches. M'gann has been very excited and it would be rude not to watch. Also, there are no televisions in Atlantis and while most of Young Justice has, over the course of their lives, learned to ignore the sound and movement, Kaldur hasn't. The screen draws his gaze like an angler fish draws prey.

Slowly, he finds himself engrossed in the story, smiling helplessly at Sir Lancelot's disgusted exclamations – "_Knights! Picking flowers?" _– King Arthur's replies – _"Well, someone's got to do it!"_ – and Guinevere's playful flirtations. They are so similar in tone to his time spent with Garth and Tula that he finds himself helplessly charmed, even despite the way his memory sours his perceptions, as he begins to feel more and more for Sir Lancelot, hopelessly in love with a woman he can never have.

As the thought occurs to him, he feels a sharp pain in his throat and his chest.

And then... no. _No. This is wrong_, he thinks, helplessly, watching Guinevere begin to return Lancelot's affections.

"How could they?" M'gann whispers in horror.

"Oh yeah, those cheating bastards," Artemis snarks, not even looking up from her magazine, and Kaldur remembers now. He remembers the way this ends from the one book in King Orin's collection about his surface namesake.

This affair will not – cannot – end well, not only for the betrayal of their friend and husband, but also for the introduction of Arthur's bastard son, whose plot to take the kingdom will tear the three apart.

Kaldur finds, however, that he cannot judge. As Sir Lancelot sings – _Oh no not in springtime, summer, winter or fall; no, never could I leave you, not at all _– Kaldur knows that Tula had ever, if she had not...

If Tula hadn't told him when she did that his affections were not returned... he would have stayed. If she had given even the slightest sign that they were, he would have fought Garth to the end to have her, to be with her. He would have remained in Atlantis, leaving the team to Robin's yet incapable leadership, to destroy his first and best friendship... for Tula.

His throat clogs, and his eyes burn and itch with unshed tears. Carefully, he raises a hand to casually cover his mouth, which is tight with pain.

No, he cannot fault Sir Lancelot. Not when he would have done the same.

The film ends as it must. Although Guinevere still loves her husband and ends the affair, they are still torn apart, each of the three left finally, utterly alone. Three lives destroyed by love. _It will not happen_, he tells himself. _Tula does not feel the same, and I... I would never do that to Garth_. _Never_.

It's hardly his most inspiring conviction, given that Lancelot shared the same surety. __

Wisdom is learning from another's mistakes, he thinks. He will learn from Lancelot's and Guinevere's and Arthur's, and he will not... He can't even define what, but he _will not_. He clenches his eyes shut to drive away the tears he can feel building.

He schools his face into impassivity while the movie ends. He hears the others rise, and slowly leave – Kid Flash and Robin to play video games, Artemis and Superboy to - well, who knows, and on any other day, Kaldur might offer to join the clone, to try to integrate the movie into Superboy's overall understanding of humanity. But not today. He hears Robin offer condolences to M'gann –_"It's okay, you know. It's just a movie."_ – and Artemis make an attempt at the same – _"Look, we can have, I don't know, a girl's night or something later. This isn't the only romance out there, you know." – _Finally, it is only himself and M'gann left.__

When he opens his eyes, her hands are still clenched over her mouth, and her eyes are more than tearing, they're pouring tears out. Her breathing is slow and careful to keep the sobs in.

Just as slowly, he sucks in a breath to loosen the tightness in his throat and asks, "Are you alright?"

She looks over at him, and nods. "Yes," she chokes. "Are you?"

He blinks, and remembers – _empath – _and nods back. "Yes. I'll be fine."

"I'm sorry," she says. "I mean, hello~ Megan! It's just a movie! But, it's horrible, what happened, and you were in so much pain, and I couldn't block it out, and"

Carefully, he puts a hand on her shoulder. "I will be fine. The movie... reminded me of someone."

"Oh," she whispers. "Would it be okay to just, sit here for a bit?"

He clenches his teeth, but nods and tries not to convey just how much he wants to escape to privacy. M'gann curls up against his side, and weeps out her pain. It's difficult, to project calm and strength and wellness for her to draw on, even while his mind ponders his slowly growing conviction that he will never allow his friendship with Tula and Garth to fall apart in such a way, even if it comes at the cost of his heart. He will never love again, if need be.

M'gann jerks away. "Oh! No! Kaldur, you can't!"

He could take her to task for reading his mind, but it would be petty and he has no time for pettiness. "What, then?" he asks.

"Anything but that," she says. He feels something like a tap on the edge of his mind, and her forehead presses against his. She is nearly in his lap and his arms wrap around her by instinct as much as by the thought that she'll fall if he doesn't. He opens his mind to hers and she siphons off his pain, weeping into his shoulder – crying now _his _tears, _his _pain for the love he will never have with Tula. She gives him back her surety and strength and wellness.

He is worthy, he is kind, he is strong, and good, and _he is not Lancelot_. His love will not destroy.

Perhaps she doesn't love him, and perhaps Tula doesn't love him, but some day, someone will. She hugs him tightly. _Wisdom is learning from another's mistakes_.

Too many give up on love before it's even begun. _That_ day, with _that _one... he will hold that love tightly, and never let it go.


	20. Comfortable Read Warnings, Please

Prompt: So remember the Clark/Bruce hints in: http:/ community. livejournal. com/yj_anon_?thread=465073#t465073 this fic? Kryptonian Mating Habits?

I would LOVE for Dick to realize that if _he's_ losing control so much over Kon, then _Bruce must have it worse_. And Bruce is letting Clark use him over and over without complain. And _he gave in faster_. In short, Dick realizes that Bruce is head over heels in love with Clark. And he and Kon decide to do something about it.

.net/s/6754580/1/In_Heat

AN: You may want to go read the fic linked in the prompt up there first. First of all, it's worth it, and second, this one won't make much sense without having read that one first.

**SINCE THIS HAS COME UP: **Yes, there are quotes taken from Siany's _In Heat_. Yes, I have permission.

WARNING: This story contains both **slash and sex. Not explicit sex, but sex all the same. **If either of these things offends you – and you'll note that I've raised the rating on this – **do not **read further.

You've been warned.

Comfortable

"So I, what, have no say in this?" Robin spits, "I'm just expected to lie down and take it like some whore?"

Batman knows the look on his face could freeze fire. "No," he says. "They cannot force themselves on their mate. That would be counterproductive and against their nature."

_Coerce _their mates, on the other hand... Well, he's not going to mention that possibility, and he gives Connor a Look to be sure that if it ever crosses Connor's mind, the boy will think twice about it. Clark was bad enough.

"_Mission's over," Batman points out, finishing a report on the cave's computer. There's a benefit gala he and Dick are going to be expected to be at tomorrow, which means he needs to get this done tonight, and Superman... is breathing down his neck, and very much _not_ saying 'Right, well, I think I hear a cry for help, let me know if you need anything'. Which means Batman is not pointing out that he hadn't asked for Superman's help in the first place: the Man of Steel had just shown up out of nowhere in the middle of a fight with Twoface. _

"_I know," Superman says from over Batman's shoulder. He's breathing heavily and that's just strange enough that Batman half turns in his chair. Superman is... staring at him. Batman frowns._

"_Something you need?" he asks, and Superman answers,_

"_Yes." And he doesn't say anything more, just takes half a step closer so that he's standing well within Batman's personal space. _

_Batman considers taking a step back, but it's a point of pride that Batman _does not back down_. So he doesn't. Instead, he arches an eyebrow that he knows Superman won't see through the mask, and crosses his arms._

_Superman starts rubbing them. "It's a..." he starts, and licks his lips. "It's a... biological imperative," he says, and Batman frowns. Biologically speaking, 'imperative' isn't a word that gets thrown around often. Humans – and Kryptonians, presumably – need to eat, sleep, breathe, and... Fuck._

"_You want to have sex," Batman says, never one for beating around the bush._

_Superman's breathing speeds up a little. "Yes," he says. "It's... not all the time, just once every three years."_

_Once every three years. Which means it's been about as long for Superman as it's been for Batman. Still,_

"_No," Batman says. Batman is based on deprivation. His being hinges on appearing to be both more and less than human. Besides... he hasn't told Superman who he is, yet. The League is too new, and it's too difficult to trust. And letting Superman into his bed would mean letting him into the house, which means he'd have to meet Dick, and Batman is already trying to fit a small child into his world of Bruce-and-Alfred._

_Superman swallows hard. "Why not?" he asks. _

"_I need a reason?" he replies, avoiding the question. He has them. He has lots, and none of them have anything to do with the shivers he can feel compacting into his spine as he wrestles them into submission at the feel of Superman's hands on his arms. None of them have anything to do with Superman's proximity, or the thought of exactly how long it's been. None of them have anything to do with the feel of Superman's breath on his neck, because that – all of those – are equivalent to 'yes'._

"'_d be nice," Superman whispers, eyes still fixated on... Batman's neck? His lips?_

"_Mission's over," Batman repeats instead. "You can leave now."_

"_I- No. I can't," Superman says. "Biological imperative. I- I had to come. I have to stay." _

So imperative really means imperative_, Batman thinks. Still, Superman had to have known that Batman was the least likely to go along with it. It would have been better to choose someone more pliant, like Wonder Woman. Or Flash, if it had to be a male, which means there likely isn't a choice of partners involved._ _"Why me?" he asks anyway. _

_Superman shrugs. "I... I don't know," he says. "You're... intoxicating."_

Pheromones, then, _Batman decides. Likely something to do with just how long it's been. Nevertheless. _

"_I'm also not interested," he says, and walks away. Bruce may have needs, but Batman doesn't. And really, except for the tabloids and the benefit galas, Bruce isn't really sure he exists. Batman, on the other hand, most certainly does. _

_Superman follows him, and it is Batman – not Bruce – who directs him to spare bedroom across the hall. "You leave in the morning," he says, to make it clear. He can't have Superman tagging along to Bruce's gala, questionable existence or not. _

"How's it going?" Clark asks over the rim of his coffee mug. Several miles away from the manor, in a randomly selected diner, Batman feels secure discussing this subject. He sits with his back to the wall – facing the door and the wide windows along the same wall – anyway.

"Not well," he admits. "You need to talk to them. Richard isn't adjusting well to the concept. Connor's crowding him, and it's making him stubborn."

Clark blinks. "Still? It's been a week. You didn't take-"

"_I know_," Bruce growls, letting a hint of Batman into his voice. Clark has the decency to look abashed. He hadn't, after all, been particularly subtle about using every advantage he could get.

_In the morning, Superman is still there. _

_In fact, at some time between going to bed and waking up, he's snuck into Batman's room. Batman is not amused. He's even less amused at the hand cradling his bare chest, and the hips pressed up against his. He doesn't sleep naked, but neither does he sleep in his Batman costume and the cotton of his briefs does nothing to keep him from feeling the Man of Steel's... man of steel... against his backside._

_He breathes deeply to calm both his nerves and his own morning... problem, and attempts to remove Superman's arm from around him. Superman's grip tightens, and Batman is forcibly reminded of why he doesn't allow metas in his city. _

_Superman isn't even awake yet, and Batman has to lie there, waiting. It's only about half-an-hour, but it's half an hour of watching the door to the door to washroom – where he keeps his pain killers. _

_Superman snorts out a breath against the back of Batman's neck as he slowly returns to consciousness. Then he inhales and the cock that Batman can feel pressing against his cleft jerks. Superman groans, and his hand shifts, a finger brushing against Batman's nipple, which stiffens almost immediately and Bruce sucks in a gasp he is _not _going to let out. Superman, for lack of a better word, _grinds.

_This time, Bruce _does_ gasp, because Superman's grip tightens again and this time it presses painfully on the bruises Batman's Kevlar left on his skin. Superman freezes. _

"_Superman," Batman begins. There's no answer for a long moment._

"_Batman? What am I doing in your bed?"_

"_You took the words right out of my mouth," Batman growls. "Get out." _

_Superman opens his mouth, likely to say 'I can't' again. And then Alfred walks in. _

_He raises a single eyebrow in response to the sight of Bruce, in bed (hardly surprising), with Superman (extremely surprising). "Good morning, Master Bruce," he says. If Bruce had less self control, he'd wince. He hadn't planned on revealing who he was (ever) for a long time yet. He can't blame Alfred, though. He's very much _not _Batman at the moment, and Superman is still wearing his costume, albeit without the cape. Batman hadn't thought to provide the other with a change of clothes last night, so Alfred's assumption that Batman had revealed his identity is, while erroneous, not entirely unjustified. _

"_Good morning Alfred," Bruce says, instead of a biting remark. "It looks like I'm going to be too busy to go to the benefit gala after all," he continues. "Would you make the usual excuses for me?"_

"_Of course, sir," Alfred answers in a murmur._

"_And-" Bruce sighs. "Who am I dating at the moment?"_

"_I believe that would be Miss Vanessa Van Beldt, sir," Alfred answers. _

"_Right. Would you send her my excuses as well?" _

_Alfred nods in lieu of an answer, and begins to leave before he pauses and asks, "And will... Superman... be joining us for brunch?" he asks. "Young Master Richard is waiting down stairs."_

_Batman levels Superman with a glare, and says. "Yes, I think he will."_

"_Very good, sir," Alfred answers as he leaves._

_Batman eventually limps down to the table, arguing against being carried the entire way. Twoface was smarter than to keep shooting at his chest after it didn't kill him the first time. Apparently, 'legs' had won out on the coin toss, which was fortunate, because Batman has Kelvar in his leggings too._

'_Waiting' is not the word Batman would have used to describe Dick's status. 'Falling asleep in his Cheerios' is closer to the mark. He casts one glance up at Superman and frowns. _

"_Sup'man?" he slurs. _

"_Yes, Dick. Superman and I are going to be... working on something for the next few days," he says. _

_Dick nods. "'Kay," and he lifts another spoonful of cereal to his mouth, finding it with eyes closed._

"What?" Robin asks, voice flat. Superboy frowns and wraps both arms around Batman's partner.

"We're moving to the manor," he repeats, even though he knows damn well Robin heard him.

"But-" Dick stalls. "But what about our secret identities?" he squeaks, trying to dislodge Superboy's hug. Suddenly, Superboy looks a lot more interested in the conversation and a lot less interested in fending off Batman's completely platonic interest. His arms still don't move.

Batman's lips carefully _do not _quirk in a grin. "Next Kryptonian who latches on to you as a mate, you don't have to tell him who you are," he offers, and both of them ignore Superboy's possessive growl.

"Oh ha ha, very funny," Robin grouses.

"_This is going to be a problem," Bruce say, suiting up with his back turned. He doesn't need to glance back to know that Superman's gaze is riveted on his body. As he pulls the cowl over his face, he wonders which expression accompanies that stare, which draws Superman's gaze more: his ass, or his scars. _

"_What- what do you mean?" Superman asks, face flushed when Batman finally turns around to face him. _

"_The way you follow me around. I'm not going to give up my nightly patrols, and Batman works alone."_

"_You're training an eight-year-old to work with you," Superman points out, shutting his eyes and breathing very, very carefully._

"_That's different. You're a meta. Batman doesn't work with metas, and he usually doesn't even allow them into Gotham."_

"_Do you realize you talk like you're not the same person?" Superman asks, with a confused frown._

"_We're not." Batman answers with a growl, daring Superman to make an issue of it. Superman wisely decides not to. _

"_I'll only follow," he says instead. _

"_You'll stay here." Batman states, but Superman is already shaking his head. "Yes, I know. 'You can't'. 'Biological imperative'. You'll survive not being around me for a few hours."_

_Superman is abruptly pressing in close, crowding him – no, not just crowding him, forcing him back up against one wall, and hell, Batman can feel how hard Superman is just from this little bit of contact. Superman's eyes close and a small sound escapes his lips. _

_Superman leans in, closer. "Actually, Batman," he says into Batman's ear, nuzzling his cheek. "_This_ close is where I'm most comfortable. It's already painful to let you stand out of arm's reach... where _you're_ most comfortable. If you leave, and I'm not with you..." Fingers start playing at the edges of Batman's cowl, dipping underneath to stroke at Batman's cheekbones and then shift to cup the base of Batman's skull . "I'm not sure I would. The AI in my ship was detailed, but not nearly _this_ detailed."_

_He brushes his lips against Batman's, gently, a complete contrast to the weight pressing Batman up against a wall. Batman remains perfectly still. He would have expected to be panicked at the thought that he can't move, couldn't force Superman's arm up and out and couldn't turn this into a pin._

_Instead, he's... not comfortable... but comforted. It's been a long time since he's been the smallest person in the room, the weaker of two, and Superman will never take advantage of that. He _knows_ that Superman won't take advantage of his strength to overpower, to hurt, to become the kind of man Batman has dedicated his life to stopping. Batman has never been this sure of anyone since Alfred, since his parents, and it's so so easy to lean forward into Superman's kiss, return it for a moment, and then pull away in small amount of space created._

_He's lucky he's wearing a jockstrap._

"_Fine," he says. "But you leave the criminals to me. Understand?"_

_Superman's grin is sudden and wide and bright – charming –and he leans in for another kiss. Batman turns his head away. "_Not now_," he growls and Superman chuckles, a little, leaning back to let him go._

"_I understand," he says to Batman's departing form._

It's been three days; Clark has yet to appear for a talk with Connor and Dick, and Alfred has taken to glaring at Connor and cooking entirely too many sweets. Bruce pretends not to be worried. He knows very well his valet and surrogate father's opinion on letting _anyone_ touch his sixteen year old charge – Kryptonian biological imperative or not – and Dick is taking such a long time to adjust to the idea...

He's torn between worrying that the expectations may injure Dick's psyche and worrying that Connor may explode if Dick takes any longer. There's no action he can take though, so he stays out of it and fields Alfred's concerns as best he can. It doesn't help that Alfred has never approved of his once–every–three–years relationship with Clark.

Bruce has to keep from snapping that his relationship – or lack of one – with Clark is not the issue, because it's at least a major part of it.

Bruce can survive not having a relationship for three years at a time. Batman is all about deprivation. But Dick... Dick _can_ survive it, but as a father, Bruce knows he doesn't want Dick to have to.

_It's been three days of having Superman trail him during his patrols and waking up with Superman wrapped around him. No, not Superman, _Clark Kent, _reporter for the Daily Planet_._ Knowing that Batman hadn't wanted the League to know who he was (yet, maybe), Superman felt obligated to reveal his own secret identity and return the favour._

_So it's _Clark_ who's rubbing up against his back, groaning in his sleep, and it's Bruce who is trying desperately to ignore every bodily signal telling him to go for it. Batman does _not back down_. Ever. Not to a villain, not to a meta, and he's successfully managed to hide that he wants it, so far. _

_That grace period of Superman believing that he's not interested is about to come to an end, he realizes as Superman's hand runs down his chest, palming one nipple, his thumb catching on Bruce's belly button while his pinky brushes against Bruce's erection. Clark's rubs against him again, and Bruce groans. _

_(He's Batman, he doesn't have needs.)_

_Clark starts a little, beginning to wake up, but instead of stopping, he sucks in a breath and wraps his hand around Bruce's cock. He pumps, once, and props himself up on one elbow to watch Bruce's face. "You- Are you-" he starts, and then begins again, still pumping. Bruce grits his teeth against the feeling. Superman's nostrils flare a little as he sucks in a breath. "You want this," he says, voice soft. "I can tell." _

_Bruce says nothing. He has nothing to say that wouldn't be a lie, and can't say anything close to the truth. He wants this. He needs this, but he isn't supposed to have needs. Bruce is a walking mass of wants and Batman has neither wants nor needs. He gasps as Clark's palm, an extra layer of sensation above the heat Clark exudes . _

_Clark shifts to lean over him, pressing him down into the mattress. His lips press against Bruce's, tongue diving in. Bruce pants into Clark's mouth, breathing in pheromones and stale toothpaste. Clark tears himself away._

"_You want this," he whispers. "Tell me you want this." _

_A 'yes' freezes on the tip of Bruce's tongue. He can't say it. Yes, he wants it. But he is Batman, and he wants nothing. _

_Instead, he stretches up to crash his mouth against Superman's. _

_He gives in. It's neither gentle nor loving. He's left with bruises around his wrists, and if Superman weren't damn near invincible , Bruce would have left more than few injuries behind. It's exactly the way Batman needs it to be, but he fears (just a little, deep down where it doesn't really matter) that it wasn't the way Superman needed it to be._

The bullet wound in his shoulder bleeds sluggishly. It's already a ragged hole from transporting and dropping off... some number of criminals. He tries to count out in his mind, but the number keeps getting confused with the phone number for the hospital Gordon had tried to call. Definitely a concussion. Possibly two.

If there was ever a time he wished Superman had been trailing him, last night was it. Too bad his next mating cycle isn't for another year.

He considers raising his arms to grip the steering wheel, but he can already hear Alfred's displeasure, so he switches the car to voice control and tells it to drive home.

The stairs up from the cave have never been so long or so painful. He stumbles into the kitchen, weak from blood loss and the first thing he sees are Dick and Connor – in separate seats, Connor nuzzling Dick neck, Dick suppressing a full face flush.

_Oh,_ he thinks, _they've had sex. Good._

Then Alfred catches sight of him, and calls his name, and Dick is rushing over to help him into a chair. Bruce hugs him instead, not really sure why. There hadn't been any criminals tonight who were particularly brutal or who targeted children in particular and Dick isn't a child anymore anyway. Maybe it's because he knows Dick will be alright now. Maybe this, too, is the concussion. He wouldn't be surprised.

"_So, are you guys going out?" Dick asks, with a hint of whine in his voice. Clark chokes on his coffee. Bruce raises an eyebrow. They've been very careful to make sure none of Clark's Kryptonian nature comes through in front of Dick. The worst Dick could have possibly seen was Clark sitting a little bit closer to Bruce than might be considered appropriate_

"'_Cause if you are," Dick continues, "that's so not fair – Batman doesn't even _like_ metas! Why are you taking him on patrol, when I'm totally ready?" _

_Clark breathes a sigh of relief and Bruce is rather glad he hasn't gotten to identifying tells in Dick's education yet. As it is, he'll have to teach Clark not to be so transparent. _

"_Because you're eight, Dick, and I'm not taking an eight year old out to subdue men three times your size. Maybe next year. You still have several training modules to get through."_

"_But I totally _can_ subdue guys three times my size!" Dick protests. Bruce raises an eyebrow and lets a little of Batman get out through his voice. _

"_Maybe next year."_

_Dick grumbles, but under his breath and into his lunch, glaring the whole time._

_The second he's gone, Clark is pressed up against him, breathing in the air next to his neck, arms wrapping around Bruce in an immovable grip. Bruce would bother with objecting, but they've been through this before and it didn't make a difference. Besides, it's... not so bad. It's not like Dick or Alfred are watching. Only the cameras, and later, Batman._

"You're hiding something from me!" Dick announces with his eyes narrowed. From the corner of his eyes Bruce can see that Clark won't meet Dick's gaze and wishes he'd gotten around to explaining the concept of _acting_ to Clark, and why it is necessary when dealing with a teenager.

Clark looks over at him, and Bruce looks back. His expression is all he needs to convey that no, he's not taking this one. Superman can explain it himself.

So Superman explains it, just like he did to Bruce when Dick was eight and his mating cycle had just petered out.

"_Outside of my mating season, I feel very little in the way of sexual arousal," Clark says, sitting on the edge of the bed, getting dressed._

"_This is what you meant by 'not all the time'?" Bruce guesses, shrugging on a dress shirt and buttoning it up with far more speed than Superman. In part, he has more practice, but mostly it's just because he's never had a reason to linger over any activity related to the bedroom and it's habit now._

"_Yes," Clarks answers with no small amount of relief in his voice. "I-" he pauses. "Is this... what does this mean?" he asks, gently, and Bruce raises an eyebrow._

"_Nothing," he says. "It's a biological imperative, or you wouldn't have chosen me to come to, correct?" _

_Clark blinks and he twists around to give Bruce a very confused expression. "What?" He shakes his head. "Nevermind. I mean, how do you want to handle this outside of my... season?"_

"_We work together within the Justice League and the rest of the time you stay out of my city," Bruce says, succinctly. Batman metaphorically crushes the tiny voice that suggests that maybe, so long as it wasn't Superman, Clark would be okay to drop by once or twice. _

_Clark's eyebrows rise, and "... okay. I... won't say I'm not... a little bit surprised, but... well, I guess I'm not, really," he says, and his frown twists into a tiny smile. He meets Bruce's 'get to the point' expression and the smile widens. "So, co-workers, acquaintances, and... friends?"_

_Batman gives him a sceptical impression. _

"_Eventually?" Clark amends. "Maybe?" _

_Bruce shrugs, and Clark grins triumphantly. "And every three years,"_

"_We'll deal with it," Batman growls. "Don't you have a kitten to go save somewhere?" _

_Superman smiles. If he listens carefully... "As it happens, there _is_ someone calling me." He stands, and pauses far too close to Bruce for Batman's comfort. "I'll see you around," he says. _

_Batman raises one eyebrow. "Not in Gotham, you won't," he says, and walks away. _

The explanation devolves very quickly into an argument, with words like 'fuck-buddy', 'use my body' and 'you're convinced no one could ever love you' thrown around like confetti. Dick storms out after ripping the domino mask concealing his identity from his face.

Bruce squeezes his eyes shut and presses two fingers to the sides of his nose-guard. Clark lets one hand rest on Bruce's shoulder. "He didn't meant that," his sometimes partner consoles. Bruce doesn't answer, because he knows Dick better than Clark does, and he knows Clark's wrong.

Dick is also wrong, incidentally: there is a deep emotional attachment to his and Clark's relationship, even if it isn't definable with terms like 'husband', 'lover' or even 'boyfriend'. Even in the times, like now, when it isn't sexual, there is still an attachment there. He is still Clark's best friend, and that is enough. It has to be.

But that doesn't mean Dick didn't mean every word. He wouldn't have thrown away the domino mask if he didn't.

_Clark – no, Superman – flies off to rescue that kitten, and Bruce stands on the back porch, watching him go. He shivers. Sometime during the last two weeks autumn really set in, and now he's chilled just standing outside. He contemplates putting on a sweater and decides that would be a good idea. _

_He doesn't move. Instead, he crosses his arms, and watches the sky, not quite sure what he's waiting for. AS soon as he realizes that – that he _is_ waiting – he turns to change and head down to the cave. If Superman wants to talk to him, he'll call on the comm., and Batman might as well get some work down while he's at it. _

_He hardly notices that the cold has sunk down into the cave. He (hardly) notices it at all._


	21. Him

Prompt: Everyone knows the Slender Man Mythos, y/y? If not you can read about him here - http:/ www. mythicalcreaturesguide. Com /page/Slender+Man .  
Children are disappearing in Gotham and while investigating one night Robin sees a man down a dark alley way, he tells this to Batman who replies no one is there. Robin thinks his mentor has gone nuts because clearly there is a man down the alley way. Then the man starts appearing at Wayne Manor and Mount Justice and it starts creeping Robin out because none of the adults can see this strange man with the weird arms and no face... and then the nightmares start.  
Basically, the Slender Man comes after Robin and, because I'm a sucker for a good Urban Legend, the rest of Young Justice too! :D

http:/ community. livejournal. com /yj_anon_?thread=6262153#t6262153

Him

In the middle of a surveillance mission, Robin disappears. He doesn't show up at the rendezvous. He's out of M'gann's telepathic range. All Kid Flash finds when he races to check Robin's post are his communicator and utility belt.  
"Robin never goes anywhere without his belt," is all he can think to say when he shows it to the others. It's how he knows there's something wrong – except it isn't, because Robin's been living out of Mount Justice for three week with no explanation.  
It isn't until they get back that they find out about the Slender Man.  
"The Slender Man," Artemis snorts, though she sounds unaccountably serious. "It's an urban legend."  
For once, Wally's inclined to agree (_but his best friend is missing, and this Batman saying this, and Robin left behind his utility belt_). Then they have to explain who the Slender Man is to M'gann and Superboy, and even Artemis is left cold as Batman lays down his evidence.  
"The Slender Man – or someone masquerading as him – has been sighted around Gotham for several months. Thirty two children have gone missing, some of them on the same day they first report seeing him. A few of the older victims left behind pictures on camera phones-" and Batman calls up several shady images of a man, impossibly tall, wearing a business suit – "and those who had the chance left behind artwork and diary and journal entries reporting nightmares." There's one picture, hand-drawn by a four year old; the Slender Man's head and shoulders are cut off, long lined tentacles extending from arms that have no hands.  
"Is this who has Robin?" Kaldur is the first to ask.  
"I believe so. Three weeks ago, Robin reported to me that he'd begun seeing the Slender Man. I moved him here, hoping that would be enough-" in an unusual moment of weakness, Batman's shoulder's slump and his voice trails off before he regains control of himself. "The Slender Man has a preference for watching and kidnapping from foggy streets and wooded areas. That he's taken Robin means that he's growing bolder, altering his patterns to suit his target."  
"Because of the curfew," Artemis says, drawing confused looks.  
"Yes," Batman responds, and then explains. "The Mayor of Gotham instated a sun-down curfew for all minors. The Slender Man hasn't yet attacked anyone during the day, or anyone above the age of sixteen. By all accounts, adults are unable to see him. If the Slender Man's patterns change further, that curfew may well be expanded to adults."  
_Majors, _Wally thinks Robin would have said. _If people under eighteen are minors, why aren't people above it 'majors'?_  
Batman's jaw tightens. "For the moment," he says. "I'm disbanding Young Justi– _Don't argue_. This is for your own safety. Go home. Don't go out at night. Contact me _immediately_ if you see the Slender Man at any time."  
"The Slender Man took Robin. He can and will take any of you."

Wally spends three weeks half-expecting to find a too tall silhouette watching him. He fights crime only during the day, and leaves the night work to Uncle Barry. It's hard – he's nearly bursting at the seams from the need to _run_, to _fight_, to _find Robin_. On day three, the teacher sends him home because he's not paying attention anyway, and his parents call the school to tell them he won't be back for the foreseeable future.

Six more children – a pair of ten year old twins, an infant barely old enough to walk, two teenagers and a six year old girl whose babysitter turned around for a moment at the park– go missing in Gotham. Three go missing in Central City.  
Wally moves in with Barry and Iris.

No one realizes for an entire day that Superboy's gone. Partly, this is because he left nothing behind, no small pile of possessions as most of the other disappearances were characterized by. Partly, this is because he had no home to go to outside of Mount Justice. Red Tornado only checked on him once a day.  
It's the first time Wally's ever seen Superman look sick, look like he really _cares_. It's the first time Wally's ever been angry at a superhero.  
(It's the first time he's ever really hated someone, even if it's only a little.)

Ten more children go missing, and Batman's no closer to finding the culprit, or the children. All over, petty crime rates soar as superheroes stop bothering, bending their attention to tracking down the Slender Man.  
Wally, waiting in line for his order at Burger King, spins around on some instinct he can't identify. The Pied Piper meets his gaze boldly, and nods, once. There's some message there, Wally knows, but he can't quite tell what it is.  
On the same day, he overhears Barry talking with Batman. Given that he has the upstairs phone clenched in one fist and is breathing as quietly as he can, he can't really say it's accidental.  
_"How can that be?"_ Barry asks in a voice no louder than a whisper. He thinks Wally's doing his home-school homework.  
_"... I think we're dealing with the real thing_," Batman says. _"Two children went missing almost simultaneously in different cities. His target age range, and target area are expanding, and his rate of capture is accelerating."  
"Rate of...? Batman!"  
"What would you have me call it, Flash?"_ Batman's is arctic cold and flatter than Wally's ever heard it. And then he changes the subject. _"We're dealing with the supernatural, not a serial killer. It's physically impossible to have taken so many in such a short period of time without leaving evidence behind."_  
_"What does this mean for the search?"  
"It means..."_ Wally's heart nearly pounds its way out of his chest, and his mind freezes, hanging on the next words. _"It means I have no idea where to start looking."_

Roy goes missing on the same day as Artemis. Or at least, he _probably_ went missing the same day. No one's really sure, despite the receipt for the pizza from the night before.  
Green Arrow's tears are the hardest thing Wally's ever had to see, peeking down at where the huge man is nestled on Barry's couch between Barry and Black Canary.  
The sound is worse.

Batman institutes a three times daily check in. No one objects. Wally's already sending texts to Barry and Iris and his parents every two hours.

King Orin reports that children have started disappearing from Atlantis.  
_Not Kaldur_, Wally thinks as he hears the news from Barry. Barry's quick to reassure him.  
"Kaldur's still there, Wally. He's still safe. He hasn't been taken."  
(_Yet_, Barry doesn't say, but Wally hears it all the same.)

Wally's gaze snaps around. The worst thing about his speed goggles are that they mess with his peripheral vision and for a second there he thought-  
There!  
A long, spindly torso; arms like Elastic Man; face overshadowed by the darkness in the alley.  
Wally removes his goggles, squinting. Is it really...? Or is it just the light?  
It is, he realizes, as one of the arms moves – long, like Elastic Man's, but not fluid like his.  
Wally's emotions are all over the place; terror, horror, anger... and excitement. If he can just- just one quick look, and then he'll be gone. He's fast enough to outrun any length of arm, and if he can get a look at the guy's face, he can describe it to a sketch artist and show it to Batman and then it'll be over.  
Just one... quick...  
A hand clamps down on his shoulder. Wally's head jerks around to glare up at-  
"Captain Cold?" he squeaks.  
Captain Cold frowns. "What's so interesting about that alley?"  
Wally looks back. "He's- He's gone!" And he is. The long, distorted frame is gone, and so is Wally's chance, and Wally slaps Captain Cold's arm away. "You-" His voice chokes. "The Slender Man was _right there_!"  
Wally points jerkily at the alley, and instead of smirking or grinning or anything Wally would have expected from the guy who just ruined Wally's chances to _finish this_, Captain Cold just looks grim.  
"I thought so. You were walking over there with this hypnotized look on your face."  
Wally, stunned, examines the distance between himself, the mouth of the alley, and where he had been standing when he noticed the Slender Man. He's... God, he hadn't even noticed how close he was getting! Wally pales, and whispers. "Thanks."  
"Be more careful," Captain Cold says, and turns away. He pauses for a moment to say, "You're a good kid, Kid Flash. More importantly, you're _ours_. We'll watch out for you."

On the 30.72 seconds it takes to get home, Wally figures some things out. Supernatural or not, Captain Cold was probably right about the hypnotism thing. No one, not Robin, not Superboy, not Artemis or even Roy – the most contrary guy Wally knows - had left any signs of putting up a fight.  
The fact that there are more kids disappearing every day, from an ever larger area means that the Slender Man is growing stronger. Which means that there must be an epicentre, right? Like with earthquakes – it has to start somewhere, and it has to be caused by _something_. So it would theoretically be possible to look back at the first children who disappeared and figure out what they have in common, geographically.  
He groans as he realizes that Batman's probably already thought of this. Still, it can't hurt to tell them what happened today. Well, it can. It probably _will_ even, as soon Barry and Iris rip him a new one for trying to get _close_ to Him.

He doesn't get the chance to tell them. When he gets home, Batman and Barry are waiting for him, with M'gann and Martian Manhunter standing off to the side.  
"Orin just contacted us," Batman begins.  
"It's Kaldur, isn't it?" Wally interrupts. "He's gone."  
"Along with two of his friends. They went off on patrol and never came back," Batman confirms, and Wally used to be terrified of this man. He used to be everything the Flash wasn't – dark, imposing, violent and ruthless. Now, he's... his voice is quiet – not in a threatening way, just in a tired, heart-sick way; his shoulders are bowed, and every few seconds one hand rises to either cover his mouth or press against his cowl-covered forehead.  
Before he realizes it, Wally's blinking back tears of pity, for himself, for Orin, for Batman. If he were a better person, he'd be tearing up for everyone who's disappeared and who's had someone disappear. But he isn't. If he's going to cry, it'll be mostly for himself, and Batman, and Green Arrow and Black Canary, and King Orin.  
He swallows back the clog in his throat, and opens his mouth to say 'I saw the Slender Man'. He never gets to. Batman sweeps out of the room with a terse "Pack up. You're moving to the Tower."

Even petty crime stops. No one wants to brave the streets, because they _know_, they know now that even adults aren't safe. Besides Roy (who the media doesn't know about), five adults have disappeared in Gotham. No one wants to go out.  
Cities grind to a halt, worldwide. Three schoolgirls went missing in Japan, and a boy from India. It's enough to terrify the Western hemisphere.  
Wally knows that is only a short reprieve. The Justice League _has _to take advantage of the lull because it won't be long before children and adults start disappearing from inside their homes, and then all hell will break loose, and the Justice League will be helpless.  
How do you protect the innocent from a threat you can't see? How do you protect the innocent when it's the innocent beating and maiming and killing strangers on the street because they're terrified of losing their family?  
Wally has this image in his mind of all the people the Slender Man has taken piling up in a warehouse somewhere and blowing the top off the roof as He tries to shove just one more body – _oh god, not bodies, please don't let them be bodies _– in through the door. He has this image, and is sure that that's how the League will find the missing people.  
Wally's more than a little bit afraid – just a little bit terrified – that by the time enough people get taken for that to happen, there won't be enough League members left to stop Him.

The new Blue Beetle is living in the Watchtower as well, a mid-twenties Hispanic man that Wally spends little to no time with: first, because the guy's even older than Roy, and second, because both of them are too worried about their families.  
Wally sees him arguing with Batman a few times, trying to convince Batman to let his family into the Tower. Batman refuses again and again – it means too many things: compromising the safety of the Tower, the safety of the identities of the heroes living there, the _sense_ of safety for those like Question.  
But Wally can see him wavering.  
(Wally never does get to see when the Blue Beetle finally stops asking.)

(He stops asking because even the Tower isn't safe.)  
The Slender Man's features are completely bared in the harsh light of the Watchtower. He has no eyes, Wally sees, just slight depressions where eyes should be. He has no ear or hair, just a smooth curve of skin covered, and his mouth, when he opens it, is a dark, tongue-less hole.  
Wally's stuck somewhere between horror and fascination. Under the light, He isn't scary, just sickening, and a little bit pitiable.  
He stretches out a hand, and the gaping hole emits a soft '_huh_', and an '_ah_' and it's a sad sound. And Wally thinks, _he's just wants company_. (Wally thinks, _he didn't have hands before_, but he's hardly paying attention to that, because)  
He beckons with that outstretched hand. Long, spindled fingers curl until the dark pointed nails at the ends scrape lightly against the pale palm. _He wants to show me something_, Wally knows.  
(He hardly notices his feet moving.)  
(He hardly notices M'gann beside him, moving beside him, in time with his step.)  
Wally stretches out a hand to meet His, and feels a curl of appendage around his wrist and forearm with hardly any (bruisingly tight) pressure at all, and then he doesn't think anything at all.

M'gann can feel the mental pull, the tugging at the edge of her mind. She trails off mid-sentence, following Wally's gaze to the dark figure at the end of the hall. It's a sickening sight, and M'gann's sudden anger helps her to drive off whatever power It has had over her teammates.  
Her teammates.  
_This thing_ took her friends, and has broken so many heroes.  
_This thing_ has terrorized millions.  
_This thing_ wants to do the same to her.  
No.  
No, it will not happen, she decides, even as she casts a glance over at Wally's enraptured face. He begins to move, stretching one hand out to the grotesque figure at the end of the hall who is already reaching back.  
She moves in step with Wally, stretching out one hand like he is, and pulling her walls down, falling under into His lure almost immediately. Finally, he stretches a hand out to her, and she seizes hold of it.  
And then she can hardly think at all.

In a hazy gray space that isn't quite space – that doesn't quite have mass or matter but energy, so much energy – a thousand thousand faces do not turn upwards to watch Him return. He drops him carelessly, and her, just the same.  
They float slowly down to settle on the _not-earth not-cloud not-air_ among the others. Something tugs at her core and she feels her will to move, to look around, to take an interest in the things, the people around, fade and float away.  
Around her are transparent flickers of not-cities, not-people, who are there and then gone. _Memories_, she understands, without thinking. There's a small tug at the center of her mind, and then her earth-girl form melts away.  
The featureless face with the gaping hole turns toward her and a hand stretches out. She feels a twinge of revulsion, and then it's gone and her eyes flicker closed (_It's just lonely_, she not-thinks, _I'm safe here. Nothing can hurt me_.)  
With her eyes shut she can feel the cold, clammy pads of fingers against her cheek, her forehead, the lids of her eyes.  
There's another pull, a stronger one, at the center of her, and without thinking she tugs back. Instinctively, she pulls back and she realizes _My wall are down. _Hastily, M'gann slams them up again, and she doesn't hear a hiss. She doesn't hear a scream.  
M'gann opens her eyes and stares at the revolting figure of the Slender Man, floating in this not-space above the bodies of the children and young adults he's kidnapped, he's _taken_. Anger surges through her and she not-shouts back at him. There's no space for sound here but she knows the words, the outraged vitriol that spills from her, and suddenly faces are turning to look at her.  
She reaches out with her mind and seizes the spools of energy drifting towards the Slender Man and pulls them into herself, feeling bigger, stronger than she has ever felt before. It strikes out at her with Its own stolen energy and she throws up a shield just in time.  
Still, it shoves her back several paces, tripping her over the prone forms of children much smaller than her. _Wake up!_ She not-yells with her mind. _Wake up! See what It's doing to you!_  
A baby not-squalls, not-shattering the oppressive silence of the not-space. Ahead of her now, Wally shakes his head, slowly, shoulders hunching while his head turns to look around. She can see the exact instant he returns to himself, eyes widening with shock to see her struggling against It.  
_M'gann!_ She not-hears, and she could cry but she has no time for crying – not even if its Superboy – but she not-shouts,_don't look at him! That's how he lures you in! _Anyway.  
And then a hand is linking with one of hers, the weight of Superboy's strength and stubbornness joining her will. And another, and another. Young Justice has come back to themselves first, and each and every one finds a way to touch her, to put their strength behind hers.  
But it's not enough. She can feel all of them – Superboy, Kid Flash, Kaldur, Artemis, Robin, even Roy – and it's not enough. It has had too long to steal from too many and Its stronger than her!  
_Come on!_ She not hears, but she doesn't recognize the voice. Another hand presses up against her shoulder, and she half glances over – risking the distraction to see a black-haired boy with pale lavender eyes holding her shoulder, and a red-haired girl holding his. Suddenly, she is not the only one pulling, stealing energy back from the Slender Man, who not-shrieks and lashes out.  
The shield holds, not barely this time, M'gann's power backed by her friends and the friends of her friends, and by the power she has taken from It already. And then there are more, the eldest of those taken organizing the youngest and pressing in around her, behind her. She can feel her spectral self grow – stronger and larger – until she is as large and as fluid in shape as the Slender Man.  
With one hand, she reaches, and tears out the last of what he has stolen.  
There's no scream. There's no final shudder of death.  
He just... fades. And the not-world fades around them.

It takes forever to get through to the League. Not one of them have even a quarter for the payphone, much less a cellphone, and Wally's so hungry and listless that he can't even find the energy to walk, much less speed run to Mount Justice.  
They're hopelessly lost – out in the middle of a harvested cornfield in the middle of nowhere – and they all have to readjust to being back in real space, in real time. They rest, even Wally, trying to get back some energy while the shock fades. Some of the children start crying, and it's so harsh after the silence of the not-space, so much harsher than usual. Nevertheless, she gathers up three of them into her arms, growing an extra set when it becomes clear that the last is a squirmer.  
All around her, the teenagers and twenty-somethings are gathering up the youngest children, trying to get them to stop crying. It's not her race, it's not her planet, but M'gann feels a sudden affection for them – for these children who did and are still doing their best to help out.  
One of the children, a three year old boys whose parents are first generation immigrants and who doesn't speak English, screams. It's not a terrified scream, at least. M'gann raises her head to look up at the boy, not sure what she would have done if it had been a terrified scream. He's pointing at the sky, mouth wide in a smile, and they're all looking up now.  
_It's Superman_, M'gann thinks, and can't seem to get any farther than that. She's so tired. _That's good_, she manages, and the Superman lands, his gaze sweeping over the whole of the group, over the infants and the toddlers and the children. He looks over the teenagers and the young adults and finally his gaze comes to rest on Young Justice, and then he's moving forward, straight towards them.  
They all – except Wally, and M'gann has no energy left for worry (except for the little bit she feels anyway) – stand. They needn't have bothered.  
Superman only has eyes of Superboy and the clone is abruptly crushed in Superman's arms, one hand pressed against the back of Superboy's head.  
'It's about time,' somebody murmurs, but M'gann couldn't say who. It could've been her.

That's not the end of it by any means.  
Superman contacts the League and then there are mentors to reassure and snacks to hand out – to keep the little ones quiet as much as to replenish their energy reserves. There are home cities to organize the children by and parents to contact and transportation to arrange. There are social workers to call, for the homeless ones and the press to deal with, eventually.  
(Somewhere in there, M'gann thinks, there is a debriefing; logically, she knows there must have been, but she can't remember it later.)  
There are authorities from cities all over the world call; no less than- well, she loses count after 26 – children come up to tell Superman about the abuse they suffered before the Slender Man took them and not all of them are homeless.  
Finally, there is a bed, and there is time to sleep, and if she dreams of the Slender Man, it's hardly enough to disturb her. The last of him is locked away in her mind, and she will never let him out. He will live, because the Justice League doesn't kill, but he'll never take another child again.


	22. One Hand On Your Shoulder

Prompt: This is going to be a rather unusual request. Multiple fills are encouraged.

Open your preferred music application and put it on random/shuffle. Press play and then skip two or three songs. Whatever song plays next you must write a story for.

Any characters, any genre, any pairing.

Just let us know the song that you end up writing about.

http:/ yj-anon-meme. livejournal. com ?thread=6302601#t6302601

Song: Fall Leaves by Casey Comeau (http:/ radio3. cbc. Ca /#/bands/CASEY-COMEAU-AND-THE-HALFMILERS)

One Hand On Your Shoulder

The evening after the world ends, Superboy sits with Aqualad on the edge of the ocean.  
There's a distinct scent of salt water and drying sea vegetation permeating the air, but neither of them notice. Aqualad hasn't said a word all day, not since he dragged Superboy here and forced him to lean against his shoulder.  
A chill breeze sweeps in from the ocean. Superboy doesn't notice. Kaldur's used to the colder temperatures in the deep.  
Superboy fell asleep at some point, and Kaldur wrapped a hand around him to keep him upright soon after. This is what Superboy wakes to. A hand on his shoulder, feeling like it would burn his skin where his t-shirt is torn and skin rests against skin.  
"I'll never have a name," he whispers. "He's gone."  
Kaldur says nothing for a long moment, measuring his words carefully. "In Atlantis, it is a common practice to gift an adopted child with a new identity," he says. "My friend, Garth-" he quirks a smile at Superboy's startled expression, "was given a land name by my King's brother, Prince Orm, when Orm adopted him many years ago."  
Superboy's brow wrinkles, and he asks, "Why?"  
Kaldur shrugs. "I've never asked. It's... impolite to enquire into one's previous name, and the reasons behind the change."  
"Oh," Superboy says again, more quietly.  
"In Atlantean, the name 'Fre'ende'rein' means 'brave warrior'," he suggests, gently, without really suggesting. "There is also 'Lora'atris', which means 'a gift from the deep'."  
"Isn't Laura a girl's name?" Superboy asks.  
Kaldur lets his lips curl into a smile at his own expense. "It is. Perhaps 'Falkahn'en'; 'his father's son'."  
Superboy head jerks up sharply, and Kaldur is careful to keep his grip around Superboy's side. "He wasn't my father," he says, miserable and angry because Superman will never be his father now.  
Kaldur shakes his head slowly. "He was. Whether he acknowledged that or not, he was. That should be remembered."

Superboy shivers. "What does Kaldur'ahm mean?" he asks eventually.  
"Nothing," Kaldur answers without shame. "When King Orin took me into his household, I kept the name I had been born with, my father's name. Cal Durham." Superboy says nothing, and Kaldur is afraid he might be belabouring the point – or worse, undermining it – by continuing, but he hasn't had occasion to speak about this for a very long time, and he finds he want to now.  
"That was only days after my father launched a mounted assault on the palace," he says. Superboy is staring at him, now, he can see from the corner of his eye. Kaldur keeps his eyes on the ocean. "King Orin's palace guard drove back the assault, but my father used the confusion to slip inside.  
Queen Mera was not nearly so skilled in sorcery then as she is now. Even if she had been, sorcery is not always superior to mechanical weaponry. My father held her life hostage against King Orin's abdication and exile.  
Prince Orm saved her, my father died in the struggle, and King Orin found me. He asked me if I were named Fre'ende'rein and if I would follow in my father's footsteps. I told him I would not," Kaldur shrugs, careful not to dislodge Superboy, "and he offered me a place in his house. When I accepted, I asked to be known as Kaldur'ahm... a name with no meaning, except a reminder that my father – for all his faults, and wrongdoings – was still my father, and did what he felt would serve me best."  
"By attacking the king?" Superboy asked, sceptically. Kaldur smiled a little.  
"The black rights movements in Atlantis lagged behind the movement on land by several decades. When my father was my age, even up to shortly before I was born, a man – even an Atlantean – with my skin color could never hope to work for the King, much less be accepted into his house. In attacking the King's palace in such a way that would ensure I was orphaned... he brought the civil unrest and the discrimination to Orin's attention... and secured my future."  
Superboy thinks about that for a very, very long time. So long, in fact, that Kaldur hears M'gann's tentative voice ask if they're alright._We're fine. Superboy's just thinking_, he thinks back at her.  
_Okay, _her mind's voice whispers, and he feels her consciousness leave.  
Finally, Superboy speaks again. "Falkan'en doesn't sound too bad," he whispers.  
"Then, will you be known as that, and be part of the house of Cal Durham, as my brother and my friend?" Kaldur asks, letting his voice slip further into the measured intonations of ritual.  
"Sure," Superboy answers, likely the first time anyone has ever not answered with the ritual response: acknowledgement and repetition. Kaldur smiles helplessly. Adopted within a few months of his arrival on Earth... just one more way he is his father's son.  
"Welcome brother," he says, and Superboy's hand burns against the freezing cold of his shoulder as he wraps it around him.  
Together, they watch the dawn.


	23. The Perils of Parenting

Prompt: Alright, so for this prompt:

+ the whole team is dating each other (the OT6)  
+ all the members of the Justice League think that it's just some of them dating each other, yanno, monogamously (one-on-one)  
+ someone finds out

It can be crack, it can be serious, it can be angsty or fluffy or smutty - I don't care, I just need this like _breathing_, yo.

http:/ community. livejournal. com/yj_anon_?thread=6272137#t6272137

The Perils of Parenting

Superman isn't... one hundred percent okay with the clone – the boy –_Connor, _yet, but he's trying. He has a lot of time and excuses to make up for, as well, which is why he's here, at Mount Justice, on a Friday evening when life apparently conspired to give him the afternoon off. At both his jobs.

He first he realizes that something is wrong when he hears the muted whispers through the ventilation ducts.

"_...are you sure?" _Superman strains his hearing a little more because he knows very well – from what his mother has told him– that if children of any age aren't in front of you, they're up to something. That, and he's curious.

"_Absolutely. Trust me; it's going to feel great. Have I ever steered you wrong?" _It sounds like M'gann and... Artemis? Suddenly, he's not so sure about listening, because this is clearly _girl talk_, and as a man, he's not supposed to have any part of it.

"_But aren't they, you know, sensitive?" _Unfortunately, it's a bit like not thinking about a donkey. Now that he's aware of the voices, he can't shut them out.

"_That's the point, duh!" _

"_I wouldn't want to hurt him!" _M'gann insists. Artemis snorts.

"_They're not _that _sensitive. Just trust me. He just about creamed himself when _I _nibbled on them. Just the edges, and don't dig your teeth in. He'll love it!"_

Superman's face is – at this point, and possibly forever more – red. Red like Kid Flash's hair. Red like Red Arrows... arrows. Red like the torso of Robin's shirt. This... is more than he has ever needed to know about Con-

Wait. When _Artemis_ nibbled on- some body part that Superman is _not_ going to think about? But Artemis is dating Kid Flash, isn't she?

"_If you're sure," _M'gann says. _"Thanks, Artemis."_

"_No prob. When are you going out with him next?"_

"_... I'm not sure. We hadn't set a date when he got called back to Atlantis."_

Atlantis? But the only- Superman decides, very quickly, that he _doesn't want to know._ Sadly, it's too late for his brain, which is completely unable to unhear what's been said, and is heading straight for a meltdown.


End file.
